


Galaxies and Greenhouses

by fourthingsandawizard



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: (Eventually) Youtuber!Phil, A little bit of angst, Anxiety Attacks, Best Friends, Bullying, Fluffy, Gen, Hogwarts AU, Hufflepuff Dan, Injury, Muggleborn Dan, Plantboy!Phil, Pureblood Phil, Spaceboy!Dan, Voted Second Best Platonic Fic in the 2016 Phanfiction Awards, mildly psychic Phil, platonic, punk!phil, ravenclaw phil, so many video references, you have no idea how many videos I rewatched for this, youtuber!dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 19:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 59,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7520281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourthingsandawizard/pseuds/fourthingsandawizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dan meets a boy with piercings and a dragon tattoo while shopping in Diagon Alley, he’s pretty quick to jump to conclusions, much to his own embarrassment. But as they become fast friends, they both come to see that sometimes the most important lessons learned at Hogwarts are the ones that happen without a wand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was basically inspired by me thinking "What if I took all of my favorite Phanfic tropes and threw them all into Hogwarts?" Turns out, it worked pretty well! This is also my first fanfic, so I'm really excited/nervous to see what people think!
> 
> Also, huge shoutouts to Joanna (spacelester) and Cass (the-cass-meow) for being super encouraging and supportive throughout the writing process and for all of your feedback. You guys are the best, and I couldn't have done it without you!

“Hold the door!”

Silently cursing his choice of skinny jeans and his favorite black galaxy sweater as his heart hammered in his chest, Dan raced up the pavement toward the bus parked at the curb. Thankfully, the driver had heard his desperate pleas and waited for him, although Dan noted the look of bemusement on his face as he took in Dan’s slightly disheveled appearance caused by his dead sprint from the train station. Dan nodded at him curtly, slipping his Oyster card back into his wallet as he slumped into a seat and willed his lungs to return to a steady rhythm.

Briefly wondering how he could already be so unfit at just fifteen years old, Dan slipped his headphones into his ears and watched as the busy London streets started to roll past the bus window. Soon enough they would be arriving at his stop, and he was a mix of nerves and excitement. After almost an entire summer of begging, his mother had finally agreed to let him make the annual back-to-school trip to Diagon Alley on his own for the first time.

 

\- - -

 

“But mum,” he had begged, “I’m practically an adult now! You have to start letting me do things on my own eventually!”

His mother looked up from the carrots she was carefully slicing, her face a mixture of concern and frustration. “Daniel, I just don’t know how I feel about you travelling all the way to London on your own. You’re only fifteen years old.”

“Exactly!” Dan exclaimed, waving his arms from his seat at the barstool. “In two years, I’ll be seventeen and legally a full wizard, and then I’ll be able to do magic outside of Hogwarts and everything!”

His mother bit her lip and returned to preparing dinner. Dan knew from experience that she was avoiding his eyes because of his—albeit brief—mention of the “M word.” Even five years after learning that their eldest son was a wizard, the subject of magic still made his parents a bit uneasy.

“Mum, just think about it,” Dan continued, bringing both his volume and his hand gestures down a few notches. “I mean, it’s really a win-win. I get a little independence, and you and Dad don’t have to worry about being around magic all day.” He lowered his gaze to his feet where they were resting on the bottom rung of his stool. “I know it kind of makes you Muggles uncomfortable—“

Dan’s eyes shot up suddenly at the sound of sharp metal scrapping against stainless steel, his mother having dropped her knife pointedly into the sink.

“You know I hate it when you call us that.” Her voice was just barely above a whisper. “Almost as if we’re a whole different species.”

She turned away from the sink to face her son, whose eyes had returned to his shoes as guilt and a slight blush spread across his face.

“I’m sorry,” Dan muttered. “I didn’t mean it to sound like an insult.”

His mother sighed, wiping her hands on a dish towel before walking around the kitchen island towards him and gently touching his arm.

“Can you promise me that you’ll be careful? And that you’ll keep your cell phone on you at all times?”

Dan’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Of…of course I will! Wait, you’re really letting me go?”

“I am,” she replied, reaching up to ruffle his slightly too-long fringe, “I suppose in more ways than one.”

 

\- - -

 

Sooner than Dan really expected, the bus was approaching Charing Cross Road and his stop. He pulled his earbuds out and stuffed them into his pocket, stretching a long arm out to grab onto the railing and steady himself as he made his way to the door.

Heading up the busy street, Dan’s thoughts strayed to how much easier his journey would have been if he could have just travelled magically. While he had had to take an hour-long train ride and an almost-missed bus to get to Diagon Alley from his home in Wokingham, his fellow classmates born into magical families would be quickly arriving by Floo Powder or side-along Apparition. Honestly, he wouldn’t trade some aspects of his life in the Muggle world—namely his Internet access—for anything, but it was days like today that made him long for a magical upbringing.

Tugging at his fringe self-consciously in an attempt to smooth down the curls that were starting to form from the sweat and stress of his journey, Dan moved past several Muggles and slipped through a door that remained unnoticed by nearly everyone else on the street. As the door swung shut behind him, Dan’s eyes struggled to adjust to the dim lighting of the pub inside.

The Leaky Cauldron was nowhere near as full as it had been on some of Dan’s previous trips. He remembered a particularly stressful visit with his parents before his third year at Hogwarts during which a child running haphazardly through the tables had sent a middle-aged witch’s wand flying, sparks shooting out in every direction. One had hit his father’s hair, turning his normally chocolate-colored locks a vibrant shade of purple. Dan had snickered, earning him a glare and a week without his laptop.

Smirking at the memory, Dan made his way across the pub, nodding at the barman before pushing open the back door and coming face-to-face with a brick wall. Reaching into his slightly too-tight pocket for his wand and crossing his fingers that he wouldn’t embarrass himself by not remembering the right bricks, Dan gently tapped the wall in front of him. The bricks quickly sprung apart and Dan had to strongly resist the urge to fist pump into the air at his victory, as he was now clearly visible to a large group of his classmates who were already crowding the alley.

Dan quickly stepped through the newly created archway, taking in the crowds of people sweeping in and out of different shops, brightly colored packages in hand. Everywhere he looked, he saw other Hogwarts students, running to greet each other after a summer apart, or walking side by side down the cobblestone street while chatting animatedly about their vacations. Dan was suddenly acutely aware of how alone he was in Diagon Alley without his parents by his side, knowing full well that he didn’t have any friends waiting to meet up with him.

It wasn’t that Dan didn’t get along with his classmates. He was generally on good terms with everyone he knew at Hogwarts. He made friendly conversation with the rest of his house while eating in the Great Hall, and there were always other students in the common room willing to help him with his homework (although his self-deprecating side liked to remind him that it was simply the nature of Hufflepuff house to be kind and helpful).

Dan was certainly never truly _alone_ at Hogwarts, but he often did feel lonely. At fifteen years old, he had never really had a best friend, in neither the wizarding world nor the Muggle one.

Trying to shake the pangs of loneliness that almost always sent him hurtling toward an existential crisis, Dan started making his way through the crowds of students, debating which shop to visit first. As a fifth year, he didn’t have nearly as much to buy as he did during his first few trips to Diagon Alley, but he did have quite a few things to stock back up on before the new school year. He needed a new set of quills, as the feathers had started fraying on his old ones, as well as a better cauldron, after a potions class at the end of the previous year had left something ominous growing in the bottom of his.

What he was most desperately in need of, though, was a new set of robes. He had hit a sudden growth spurt over the summer, leaving him stumbling like Bambi on his now long and lanky legs and necessitating a whole new wardrobe. Figuring this would probably be his most time-consuming stop of the day, Dan made his way into Madam Malkin’s, a small bell chiming over his head as he pulled open the door.

“Merlin’s beard, you’re a tall one, aren’t you dear?”

Madam Malkin was pulling a long robe over the head of another boy at the back of the shop, struggling slightly due to his height. As Dan approached, he could see only the top of his ebony hair, the boy’s laughter muffled by the thick robes. The seamstress gave the fabric a sharp tug, revealing a pale face with shiny blue eyes and an even shinier lip ring. Dan thought that the piercing looked almost out of place on someone with such a warm demeanor, until he noticed the top of a tattoo peeking up out of the boy’s collar.

“So, what’s the occasion for the new robes, darling?” Madam Malkin asked from the floor where she was slipping pins into the fabric. “Another growth spurt?”

The boy shook his head and smiled, his tongue poking out slightly over his piercing. “No, they’re a gift from my parents. They wanted to get me something nice to celebrate me doing so well on my O.W.L.s.” His eyes strayed to his fingertips where they were poking out of his currently too-long sleeves. “And I’ll also be needing a new prefect badge sewn on. I may or may not have singed a hole in my old one—“

“ _You’re_ a prefect?”

Dan seemed even more surprised that he had actually said the words out loud than Madam Malkin and the other boy, who had both swiveled their heads to acknowledge Dan.

Startlingly blue eyes looked Dan up and down for a moment, and Dan raised his chin, attempting to look confident while internally cursing himself for interrupting.

When the older boy finally spoke again, it was with a Northern accent and a slight smirk. “Is that so surprising?”

“Well, yeah,” Dan answered, pulling the sleeves of his sweater into the palms of his hands for an added sense of security. “I’ve just never seen a prefect who’s so…edgy.” He indicated toward the other boy’s tattoo, which he could now make out to be a dragon curling its way up his neck.

Madam Malkin and the boy exchanged a short glance before snickering at Dan’s choice of words, and he felt heat rising into his cheeks.

“I don’t understand. What’s so funny?”

Madam Malkin stood, beginning to stick pins into the arms of the robes. “The idea of Phil Lester being ‘edgy’ is quite humorous, dear. I’ve known this boy practically his entire life, and he is certainly anything but.”

 _Phil_ , as Dan now knew he was called, smiled as she patted him lovingly on the arm, then turned his attention back to Dan.

“You sure are quick to judge a book by its—well, ink.” His voice was more curious than accusatory. “Especially for someone who looks like they’ve got a bit of ‘edge’ themselves.” His eyes lingered on Dan’s ears, where Dan was subconsciously playing with one of his own black studs. Upon noticing, Dan’s fingers stilled and his hand returned to his side.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything,” Dan muttered. “‘s cool tattoo, by the way.”

Madam Malkin had pulled Phil’s finished robes back over his head, giving Dan a glimpse of the rest of the dragon. If Dan wasn’t mistaken, it was a Swedish Short-Snout, and it was beautifully drawn. The silvery blue scales seemed to almost dance against the boy’s pale skin.

“Thanks,” Phil replied, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk, “but you haven’t even seen the best part.” He reached up with long fingers and seemed to tickle the dragon’s scaly neck. Dan’s eyes went wide with surprise when the dragon sprang to life, letting out a brilliant blue fireball, which slowly turned to wisps of smoke and faded just before they reached the boy’s ear.

“That’s…that’s incredible!” Dan finally managed to stammer, a smile spreading across his face. He had had no idea that wizard tattoos could even be animated. For a moment he was filled with the same sense of wonder he had felt when he saw magic for the very first time, a feeling he would never tire of.

Phil winked, exchanging a handful of coins for the now perfectly fitted robes in Madam Malkin’s arms and backing up towards the front door.

“Maybe I’ll catch you at Hogwarts…”

“Dan. My name’s Da—mmph!”

Dan suddenly found himself muffled and plunged into darkness as Madam Malkin pulled a new set of robes over his head. When his face was finally free of the fabric, he saw that Phil was laughing, his hand covering his mouth where his tongue was once again poking out.

“Alright, Dan,” he said after getting his laughter under control. “See you ‘round Hogwarts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidenote, Phil's tattoo was inspired by a tumblr post I saw YEARS ago about animated wizard tattoos that I can't seem to find now


	2. Chapter 2

“Daniel, are you listening?”

Dan pulled his gaze away from his plate where he had been pushing potatoes around with his fork instead of eating them, only to realize that his parents were staring at him expectantly. His mother raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for an answer to a question that he hadn’t heard.

“I’m sorry, Mum, I was a bit distracted,” he admitted, placing his fork back on his plate and attempting to pay attention.

“Distracted by what?” his father asked around a mouthful of food.

“Um, just going back to school, I guess,” Dan muttered, tracing the grain of the wooden table with the end of his fingernail. 

In truth, Dan had been thinking about the boy he had met in Diagon Alley earlier that day. He was wracking his brain to try and remember if he had ever run into him around Hogwarts. Surely he would remember if he had met someone so obviously unique, but he could not seem to place Phil anywhere in the memories of his previous four years of school. 

It wasn’t exactly a topic he felt like discussing with his parents, though, so sticking to generalizations was best.

“Did you get everything you needed today?” his mother asked, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

“I think so. There were a lot more textbooks than I thought I would need, but I guess that’s just because I’ll have to sit my exams this year.”

His parents exchanged a worried look, which didn’t go unnoticed by their son, who started bouncing his knee with nerves.

His father cleared his throat, breaking the heavy silence in the room. “These are the exams that decide which classes you’ll be allowed to take next year, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, I have to do well on my O.W.L.s to make it into N.E.W.T. level classes next year.”

“And that ultimately decides what kinds of jobs you’ll be able to get after you leave school?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

Another nervous glance shot between his parents, a silent argument over who would speak next seemingly taking place. Apparently his father won, as it was his mother who finally said something.

“Sweetheart, we’re a bit… _concerned_ about your study habits going into such an important year.”

“What do you mean?” Dan asked, carefully avoiding her eyes.

“Well, you’ve always had a tendency to procrastinate on your work, even when you went to a normal school,” his father supplied. (Dan tried to ignore the emphasis he put on the word “normal.”) “And you’ve been procrastinating even more ever since you started this whole Youtube thing.” 

“It’s not just a ‘Youtube thing,’” Dan replied. He was trying to stay calm, but he knew his face was probably flushing with anger as he spoke. “It’s something that I genuinely enjoy doing.”

“We know, darling.” His mother reached across the table, placing a hand over one of Dan’s. “We just want to make sure you have your priorities in order. We want you to be able to get a good job after you leave school, especially since we know next to nothing about the job market you’re going into.”

“Besides,” his dad added, “Your schoolwork is much more important than making videos in your bedroom for strangers.”

Dan took a deep breath and smiled weakly, more for his parents’ benefit than his own. Deep down, he knew they had his best interests at heart, but it was much more difficult to stay quiet when they were attacking something he loved.

“I understand,” he finally said, his calm tone surprising even him, “you just want what’s best for me.” A look of relief passed over his parents’ faces. “I’m not very hungry, though. May I be excused?”

\- - -

After shutting his bedroom door behind him, Dan collapsed face-first onto his black and white checkered bed, moaning in frustration into his pillow. Leave it to his parents to be more understanding of the fact that he was a _wizard_ than of his Internet habits.

Rolling onto his side, he reached for the laptop that was lying across the bed where he had left it that morning. He lifted the screen and opened a new browser, which went straight to his Youtube homepage. He quickly checked the comments on his most recent video and tried not to get too excited over his subscriber count, which was steadily approaching 600,000 people. His parents might not get his Youtube channel, but apparently a lot of other people did. 

Feeling much more encouraged than when he first came up the stairs, Dan unfolded his long legs from the bed and started setting up his camera. He pointed a box light toward the wall across from him and sat down in front of the lens, only to quickly jump back up after noticing the giant pile of clothes he had left in shot. After kicking his laundry out of the frame, he sat back down in front of the camera and hit record.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted this video to be about. Usually he at least wrote an outline of what he wanted to say, but since he hadn’t planned this one, he was fully expecting to just waffle until he found a point.

“Hello, Internet,” he said, giving a small two-fingered salute to the camera. “So, like many of you, I’m getting ready to go back to school.”

He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts, chewing on his bottom lip absentmindedly. Finally figuring out where he was going with this, he sat up a little straighter in his chair.

“Of course, with going back to school comes the always delightful back to school shopping. I’m sure most of you know me well enough by now to know that _anytime_ I leave my house, there’s a potential for an awkward situation.”

Dan smiled, knowing how much his viewers related to his slightly self-deprecating sense of humor.

“Yes, only I could go back to school shopping in Diagon—I mean, Tescos, and manage to completely embarrass myself.”

Dan made a mental note to edit out his near mention of the magical world later, as most of his viewers were obviously Muggles, and decided he would have to be much more careful for the rest of the video.

He went on to tell his story of running into Phil, making slight changes to the magical elements of the tale. Trying on robes became testing out backpacks, his shock over Phil being a prefect became surprise over him being top of his class, and Phil’s moving tattoo became completely stationary.

“So, you know I tell you my embarrassing stories not just so you can laugh at my awkwardness, but in the hopes that you’ll take something from it.” Dan smiled into the camera lens. 

“I guess the lesson here is don’t judge a book by its cover. That straight-laced girl in your maths class might actually be a secret party animal. The punk guy you pass in the hallway might be incredibly smart. And your super boring English teacher might have a hidden sex dungeon—Nope, Dan, too far. TOO FAR.” Dan brought an apologetic hand to his chest, but there was still a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I’m so sorry for any psychological damage I just caused by forcing you to imagine your teacher being into BDSM—DAN! Stop making them picture it!”

Laughing as he continued, Dan decided it was time to wrap up the video.

“Anyways, guys, I’m sure you’ve all had a moment like this at some point. Leave a comment telling me about a time where you were too quick to judge so I know I’m not alone, and go ahead and give me a good…thumbing…if you enjoyed the video.” Dan smacked his palm into his forehead. “ _Thumbing_ , Dan, really?”

Dan chuckled at his own awkwardness, knowing his viewers would love it. “Alright, well, my next video might be a little while away as I get back into the swing of school, but I’ll see you guys next time! Bye!”


	3. Chapter 3

“Have a great year, darling.” His mother wrapped her arms around him, although she had to stretch much further to reach his shoulders than she had only a few months earlier. “Please, do try to pay attention to your studies, and keep in touch.”

“I will, Mum,” he replied as she released him from her hug. He glanced over to where his father was awkwardly shifting back and forth between his feet, nervously watching the magical families surrounding them on every side. Finally, his father looked back in his direction, realizing it was his turn to bid his child farewell.

“Take care, son.” He reached over, patting Dan lightly on the shoulder. Dan wasn’t really surprised: his father always had been good at keeping things short and sweet. Dan nodded in response, shouldering his backpack and starting off through the crowd toward the scarlet train.

After dodging nervous parents obviously seeing their first year children off and his classmates running up and down the platform, Dan made it to the stairs leading into the train.

He sighed as he looked down the long corridor, knowing it was time for the dreaded yearly search for an empty compartment. Shifting his bag up higher on his arm, he started looking in compartments, seeing other students sitting together and chatting happily. He tried to convince himself that he wasn’t hoping to see Phil, but he knew he was lying.

As he neared the back of the train, Dan finally found an empty compartment and let out a breath of relief, making his way in and collapsing onto the cushioned seat. He propped his long legs up on the seat across from him, pulling his phone out of his pocket and starting to scroll through tumblr. He only had a few hours before he would inevitably lose service as they travelled through Scotland, so he planned on taking full advantage of that time.

“Hey, Hufflepuff! What do you think you’re doing in _our_ compartment?”

Dan jumped at the harsh voice and nearly dropped his phone, eyes shooting up toward the door. He felt his stomach leap into his throat as he realized that it was one of the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s beaters staring down at him. Dan almost didn’t recognize him without a beater’s bat dangling from his hands, but he easily came across as just as threatening even without a club.

The two stared at each other for a tense moment, Dan trying—to no avail—to appear nonchalant while the other boy glared at him. The Gryffindor took a step closer, and Dan felt his hands beginning to sweat.

“Geez, Chris, I told you to introduce yourself, not terrify the poor guy,” said a familiar voice from behind the older boy. A pale hand was suddenly on his shoulder, pushing the beater out of the way to give Dan a glimpse of his rescuer. He let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding in when he saw that it was Phil.

“Sorry if Chris scared you,” Phil said, shooting Dan a lopsided smile as he and another boy moved past the Gryffindor and into the compartment, “he was just joking around.”

“Per usual,” the third boy said, pushing loose curls out of his face as he collapsed on the seat next to Phil.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t resist an easy target!” The Gryffindor, Chris, shot Dan a mischievous smile and a wink.

Dan, whose heart was still racing a bit from the surprise, shrugged casually. On the inside, though, he was trying desperately to pretend that he wasn’t shocked to actually have people choosing to sit in his compartment.

Hoping it wasn’t some kind of cruel joke, he looked across the small aisle to where Phil was sitting. He was immediately met with a warm smile that reached all the way to the older boy’s bright eyes. Dan felt his own lips turning up at the corners, a sense of relief washing over him.

“So, obviously you’ve met Chris, our resident jokester,” Phil said, gesturing to the Gryffindor who grinned widely and waved, “and this is PJ. He’s in Ravenclaw with me.”

The third newcomer to the compartment nodded at Phil’s introduction, his curls bouncing a little with the movement. “I really like your bag,” PJ said, his eyes shifting to the galaxy printed backpack sitting at Dan’s elbow. Dan nodded back in thanks.

As the train lurched forward and their journey to Hogwarts got underway, a small silence settled amongst the four boys. Quiet obviously didn’t set well with Chris, who drummed his fingers on his knee for a moment before turning to address Dan.

“So, Dan, did those nervous-looking Muggles on the platform belong to you?”

Dan felt his face starting to flush and his eyes shot to the floor. “Yeah. Those were my parents.”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Dan, my mum's a Muggle, too.” PJ leaned forward to rest his forearms on his legs, bringing his hand to his mouth before continuing in a stage whisper. “Strictly speaking, my dad didn’t even tell her he was a wizard until well after the wedding, so magic is a still a bit of a sore subject in our family.”

Dan smiled, feeling much more comfortable knowing the other three weren’t going to look down on him for growing up differently. He looked back over to the black-haired boy across from him, curiosity getting the better of him. “What about you, Phil?”

“Oh, my whole family has had magic for as far back as anyone remembers,” Phil replied, lifting one long leg up to let his ankle rest against his other knee. The bottoms of his skinny jeans rode up just enough for Dan to notice that he had on completely mismatched socks, a solid green one on his left foot and a striped blue one on his right. “My grandmother used to claim that one of our ancestors was really close friends with Merlin while he was in school, but I don’t know if I believe that.”

“Wow,” Dan remarked, trying to keep his jealousy at bay, “it must have been pretty cool to grow up around so much magic.”

Phil shrugged, shifting his fringe out of his eyes. “I guess so. I mean, when you’ve been around it your whole life, it’s just kind of normal.”

“Which is why our dear Phillip has chosen to rebel this summer,” Chris added, gesturing towards the dragon poking out of the top of Phil’s shirt.

The other boys snickered as Phil clapped a hand to his neck in an attempt to cover the tattoo. The laughter then doubled when a puff of two-dimensional smoke slipped past Phil’s fingers toward his ear, the contact from his hand having jostled the dragon to life.

Wiping a stray tear from his eye as the boys finally settled down, Dan turned to the Gryffindor sitting on his right. “How about you, Chris?”

The smile quickly fell from the other boy’s face, a stoic expression taking its place. “I never met my parents,” he said darkly. “They were the leaders of a crime ring, trafficking illegal dark artifacts. They got themselves locked up before I was born, so me mum had me behind bars in Azkaban. Sometimes I still have nightmares about the Dementors…”

Dan’s eyes went wide with shock.

“He’s kidding, of course!” PJ quickly provided, reaching across the space between their seats and smacking Chris lightly on the back of the head. “His parents are very lovely people. They run a hotel for magical folks up north, and Chris and I both work there every summer.”

As Chris made a show of dramatically rubbing his “injury,” Dan couldn’t help but smile, hoping he wasn’t moving too quickly in considering the three boys sitting around him his friends.

 

 

\- - -

 

 

“Damn, I got another Armando Dippet.”

An hour into their journey, the countryside was flying past the train windows and the four boys were surrounded by sweets they had just purchased from the trolley. Dan was opening a bottle of Pumpkin Juice, Phil was contemplating whether he was holding a lemon or a rotten egg-flavored Bertie Bott bean, and Chris had just pulled the card out from behind his Chocolate Frog.

“That makes five of him. Anyone want to trade?” Chris asked, waving the card at the other boys and sticking out his bottom lip.

“No way, I finally got Uric the Oddball. He’s like my personal hero,” Phil answered, deciding the bean was lemon and popping it in his mouth. He winced as he realized he had definitely made the wrong choice.

“Didn’t he wear a jellyfish for a hat?” Dan asked, chuckling at the look of disgust on Phil’s face.

“Oh yeah, dude was bonkers,” Chris answered around a mouthful of chocolate. “Only you would choose to idolize such a nut job, Phil.”

“Hey, he wasn’t crazy, he was just…eccentric! Plus, he was a Ravenclaw!” Phil exclaimed, throwing a bean in Chris’ direction and narrowly missing his head.

“That isn’t helping your argument, all of you Ravenclaws have ‘eccentric’ tendencies,” Chris replied, tossing a Cauldron Cake at Phil, which smacked him in the shoulder. Phil picked up the sweet where it had landed and opened the packaging before taking a bite.

PJ, who had been quietly working on a Liquorice Wand, suddenly leaned forward, gripping his chin between his thumb and forefinger and squinting his eyes at Dan.

“So, Dan. _Who_ do you want to _be_?”

Dan, who had chosen that moment to take a particularly large swig of Pumpkin Juice, started choking at the unexpected question.

“Sorry, Peej tends to get a bit…philosophical,” Phil explained as Dan attempted to get his coughing under control. “It’s a little bit surprising for people who aren’t used to it.”

“No, it’s fine,” Dan finally managed, hoping his watering eyes weren’t too noticeable. “Do you mean what I want to do after I graduate?”

PJ shrugged and raised one eyebrow in response.

The younger boy shifted a bit in his seat, PJ’s determined gaze leaving him a little uncomfortable. “Well, I’m still learning about all the job options in the wizarding world, since I didn’t grow up in it, but I’m leaning towards something with the International Magical Office of Law. It seems like a pretty stable job. Who knows, maybe I could even make it to the Wizengamot someday.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Dan worried his bottom lip between his teeth, hoping someone would say something soon.

“Fascinating,” Chris said, finally breaking the silence.

“You think so?” Dan asked, pretending he didn’t notice the nervous uptick in his own voice.

“Oh, not your ‘dream job.’ I just didn’t know it was possible for three people to die of boredom all at the same time.” A mischievous smile slid onto Chris’ face, showing Dan that he was just messing around.

“Shove off, Chris!” Dan grinned, leaning across the seat to punch the other boy in the arm. “Who do you guys want to be, then?”

“Well, I’m obviously gonna be a professional Quidditch player. Puddlemere United has already told me they’re sending scouts to some of the games this year,” Chris replied, putting both arms behind his head and relaxing against the seat. “Although I guess if all else fails, I could always take over my parents’ hotel.”

Phil had to think about his answer for a bit longer, subconsciously playing with the silver hoop in his lip. “I think I’ll do something with nature, probably,” he finally voiced. “Maybe a herbologist? Oh, or a magizoologist!”

“Aren’t you allergic to most animals?” Chris reminded him, one eyebrow cocked.

“Yeah. So?”

Chris shook his head at Phil’s ever-optimistic smile, rolling his eyes. Dan imagined Phil awkwardly attempting to care for a real life dragon and couldn’t help but grin.

“I change my mind about what I want to do just about every day,” PJ said, interrupting Dan’s thoughts. “Although I am getting pretty good at inventing spells.”

“Oh! Did you come up with anything good over the summer?” Phil asked, practically bouncing in his seat with excitement.

“Yeah, I did figure out one.”

“What does it do?” Dan asked.

PJ smiled, pulling his wand out of his jacket pocket and pointing it at Chris. “It’s easier to show than to explain...”

“PJ, no!” Chris exclaimed, shielding himself with his arms. “You know I hate it when you test new spells on me! Remember fourth year when you accidentally gave me a bald spot for a week?”

“Oh, come on, Chris! Let him do it!” Dan encouraged, excited to see what would happen. Chris reluctantly lowered his arms and closed his eyes.

PJ cleared his throat and pointed his wand at Chris’ shirt. “ _Inverto_.”

A small pop sounded through the compartment. Phil and Dan leaned in to see what had happened, and Chris cautiously peeked out of one eye.

“Nothing happened!” he exclaimed, relief flooding his face as both eyes shot open.

“Are you sure about that?” PJ smirked mysteriously. “Look down.”

Chris looked down to realize that his t-shirt had somehow been flipped inside out without removing it from his body. “Seriously, PJ? What the bloody hell is the point of that spell?”

PJ shrugged. “I don’t know. Does magic have to have a point?”

 

 

\- - -

 

 

When the Hogwarts Express was within about an hour of its destination, Phil suddenly stood, stretching his long arms overhead as far as the small compartment would allow. He began gathering up his belongings, reaching for his robes.

“Going somewhere, Lester?” Dan asked, looking up at the sudden movement from where he had been leaning against the glass, watching empty fields roll by the window.

“Eh, I figured I should actually go do my job at some point,” Phil replied, muffled by his robes as he pulled them down over his head, and Dan briefly wondered if it was too soon to feel nostalgic for their first meeting. “Pretty sure they could strip me of my prefect title if I don’t show up for my patrol shift.”

“Well, get a move on, then,” Chris murmured from where he was spread across his half of the cushioned seat, not bothering to open his eyes, “we wouldn’t want Perfect Prefect Phil to get in trouble.”

Dan and PJ snickered at the comment, earning them both a piercing blue glare.

“Actually shut up,” Phil said, making his way to the door of the compartment, “or you’ll all find yourselves in detention before school even starts.” Though his tone was serious, his smile betrayed him, his tongue poking out between his teeth.

As Phil reached the corridor, he turned around quickly and leaned his head back through the door, his eyes flitting back and forth between PJ and Chris. “I trust you two will take good care of my new friend in my absence?”

Dan felt his heart clench involuntarily at the word “friend.” He tried to keep the smile off his face, not wanting to seem so obvious. He, of course, failed; Phil only smiled back even bigger.

Chris sat up, swinging his legs back over the seat as an almost evil expression took over his face. “Oh, we’ll take good care of him.”

Dan and Phil exchanged worried looks, glancing at PJ for reassurance.

“He’s kidding,” PJ interpreted, although Chris had started rubbing his hands together manically. “You are kidding, right?”

“What?” Chris exclaimed dramatically, extending both arms. “He has to perform the blood oath to join our group at some point, I just thought now would be a good time!”

Phil rolled his eyes, and knowing that Dan would be fine, stepped back out of the compartment. “I’ll see you guys in the Great Hall!” Dan watched him as he slid the door shut. Phil gave him a quick wink through the window before turning and heading toward the front of the train.

“Joining us, Howell?”

Dan pulled his attention away from the now empty corridor to see PJ and Chris starting up a game of Exploding Snap and looking at him expectantly. Dan smiled, pulling his wand out of his pocket and scooting forward on his seat to play.

As Chris flipped over a card and it subsequently blew up in his face, sending PJ into hysterics, Dan could tell that his fifth year at Hogwarts was going to be completely different from any other.


	4. Chapter 4

As the three boys made their way from their carriage through the main entrance of the castle, Dan subconsciously reached up and straightened the yellow and black tie hanging around his neck. Even after four years’ worth of wearing his school uniform to class every day, putting on his robes for the first time at the beginning of a new year at Hogwarts still felt foreign. The grey trousers felt far too loose around his ankles, and after only about half an hour in his uniform, he was already itching to get back into the skinny jeans that typically adorned his legs in the Muggle world.

When the trio approached the doors to the Great Hall, Dan gave a reluctant wave as they separated to head toward their respective house tables. He struggled slightly to squeeze his now much longer legs under the bench as he sat down, thankful that his fellow Hufflepuffs were too busy chatting with each other to notice only the first of his many awkward moments that were sure to come throughout the year.

“Have a good summer, Dan?”

Dan looked to his right to see Connor, a boy with a curly fringe sweeping across his forehead, smiling back at him expectantly.

“Yeah, it was alright. Fairly uneventful,” Dan answered, skirting around the fact that he had spent essentially the entire break sitting in the well-worn crease in his living room sofa, endlessly scrolling through tumblr and shovelling Malteasers into his mouth. “How was yours?”

“Really good!” Connor’s smile widened even further, which Dan didn’t even realize was possible. “I went on vacation in the Caribbean with my family, it was so much fun!”

“Yeah, I think I saw some of your pictures on Instagram. It looked really relaxing,” Dan replied. Connor was Muggleborn, too, and one of the only people at Hogwarts who seemed to understand Dan’s Internet addiction.

“Oh, I saw some of your Youtube videos over the summer, too! I loved the one you did about procrastination!”

Dan smiled in thanks, but inwardly groaned. It was one thing knowing that half a million strangers were watching his videos, but hearing that someone he actually knew in real life had seen them was a bit unsettling. 

As more students began to filter into the hall and Connor’s friends Troye and Tyler joined them at the Hufflepuff table, Dan once again found himself sitting in silence. His eyes lingered on the enchanted ceiling, which echoed the colors of the fading sunset outside, small stars starting to dot the sky. 

Feeling someone watching him, Dan dropped his gaze from the ceiling to look across the hall, his eyes meeting Phil’s at the Ravenclaw table. When Phil noticed him staring back, he crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out, eliciting a small laugh from Dan.

Deciding to return the favor, Dan contracted his neck, giving the illusion that he had multiple chins, his tongue hanging all the way out of his mouth. 

“Umm. Dan? Are you okay?”

Dan jumped and immediately let his features return to normal, turning to face the three boys on his right. Connor’s brow was knit in concern, while Troye and Tyler’s expressions rested somewhere between quizzical and appalled, as if they were genuinely questioning Dan’s sanity.

“I’m fine,” Dan murmured, an embarrassed blush creeping into his cheeks, “it’s nothing.”

The other three Hufflepuffs looked somewhat unconvinced, but went back to their discussion about which foods they hoped would be served during the feast.

When Dan looked back toward the Ravenclaw table, he saw Phil stifling a laugh into the sleeve of his robes.

\- - -

The rest of the evening had gone much the same as Dan’s first four years at Hogwarts. He had applauded along with the rest of the students as the first years had taken turns donning the Sorting Hat, cheering a touch louder every time Hufflepuff gained a new member. 

During the feast, he was excited to see his favorite roast beef that he had been craving all summer, and he happily dug into the treacle tart when it magically appeared on the gold plate in front of him.

Now, however, the feast was over, the plates were cleared, and students were starting to head out of the Great Hall toward their common rooms. Dan lingered for a moment, watching as Phil rounded up the nervous first years that had just been sorted into Ravenclaw.

“Alright, everybody, join me over here! Welcome to Ravenclaw!” Phil said, clapping his hands together, his blue eyes sparkling. “My name is Phil, and I’m going to be showing you all how to get to the Ravenclaw common room and your dormitories. Now, make sure you keep all of your arms and legs inside the tour at all times, and don’t panic if the staircases start to move on us, they tend to do that.”

Phil gave the first years an exaggerated wink, smiling at the nervous looks on some of their faces. “Oh, and I hope you all brought your thinking caps, because you’re going to need them to get into Ravenclaw Tower!” 

As Phil led his group of Ravenclaws out of the Great Hall, Dan couldn’t help but giggle. Standing at least a head and a half above the students trailing after him, Phil looked almost like a mother duck leading a line of ducklings between the tables and through the double doors.

Dan finally stood from his bench as the last few straggling students made their way to bed, stretching his arms over his head and yawning as the day’s long journey finally hit him. 

He started off towards the kitchens, shuffling his feet along the stone corridor. When he reached a pile of large barrels, he pulled his wand from the inner pocket of his robes and tapped out a rhythm on one of the barrels. The door to the Hufflepuff common room swung open and he stepped inside, the yellows of both the furnishings and the fire in the hearth warming him instantly. 

After heading through another door to his dorm, Dan slowly dug through his trunk for his pajamas and slipped them on, ducking into his four-poster bed and pulling the hangings shut. 

Lying on his back and staring up at the darkness, Dan gripped his wand tightly in his hand. He whispered a spell that he had memorized by heart almost soon as he had learned it the year before, and a field of stars blinked to life across the top of his bed hangings above him. A miniature Milky Way took shape before his eyes, swirling peacefully and lulling him to sleep. 

By the time his wand rolled out from between his fingers and the galaxy above him faded, Dan was already snoring lightly.


	5. Chapter 5

Dan was absentmindedly chewing a slice of toast at the Hufflepuff table, a piece of parchment containing his year five schedule in his hand. He scrunched up his nose, reading over his intense class list. It truly was going to be a much more difficult year leading up to his O.W.L.s.

He sighed, seeing that he had Herbology with the Gryffindors before lunch and double Potions with the Slytherins later that day. Neither had ever been his best subjects by a long shot, both of them leaving his stomach churning. His breakfast didn’t seem quite as appetizing anymore, and he set the rest of his toast back down on his plate. 

“Happy with our schedule, I see.”

Long legs were swinging over the bench next to Dan, and he suddenly found himself face to face with Phil, the early morning sunlight glinting off his prefect badge, and the blue and bronze tie around his neck standing out startlingly against the black and yellow ones that filled the rest of the table around them.

“Phil, what are you doing?” Dan asked quietly, wide-eyed. “This is the _Hufflepuff_ table!”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that,” Phil replied slowly, as if Dan might have trouble comprehending what he was saying. “Pass the butter?”

Dan obliged, watching as Phil slathered butter onto a crumpet, still in awe of how confidently he had just plopped himself down at another house’s table. 

“So, how bad is the schedule?” Phil asked, muffled slightly by a mouthful of food as he reached for the parchment still clutched in Dan’s hand. “Oh, you have Herbology today? Lucky! I don’t have it until Wednesday. I’ve been itching to get back in the greenhouses for days.”

“You actually like Herbology?” Dan said, finally getting over his shock and taking a sip of orange juice.

“Oh yeah, it’s my favorite subject, by far,” Phil replied, brushing crumbs from his robes. “I almost don’t feel like myself if I don’t have some dirt under my nails. Plus, sixth years get to work with Venomous Tentacula!”

Dan gulped, for once thankful that he probably wouldn’t get high enough scores on his Herbology O.W.L. to continue on to the N.E.W.T. level the next year.

“Well, you enjoy your man-eating plants,” Dan laughed, “I’ll be happily spending Wednesday evening in _my_ favorite place in the castle.”

Phil looked at Dan expectantly, one eyebrow raised. “Which is?”

“The Astronomy Tower,” Dan answered, rolling up his schedule and sliding it into his bag. 

“Ugh, you actually like Astronomy?” Phil said with a chuckle, mimicking Dan’s earlier sentiment toward his own favorite subject. Dan shoved the older boy’s shoulder lightly.

“No, but seriously,” Phil continued, “I was awful at Astronomy. I was always getting in trouble for having an ‘overactive imagination.’ So glad it’s not required past fifth year.”

This time it was Dan’s turn to give a questioning look. “An ‘overactive imagination?’”

Phil sighed. “Well, I didn’t find the actual planetary facts all that interesting, so I started making up my own. Turns out Professor Sinistra didn’t particularly appreciate my ideas about what other life might be out there.” 

Dan couldn’t help but laugh. “What, like aliens?”

“Yes! I mean, Muggles don’t believe wizards exist, but here we are! Why is the idea of aliens so bizarre? Maybe they’re just really good at hiding themselves, just like we are!”

“And what do you propose these aliens look like, Phil?”

“Space whales. Invisible space whales.”

Dan blinked back at Phil, not sure how to react for a moment. “Invisible…space whales?”

Phil responded with a series of whale noises, drawing the attention of several Hufflepuffs sitting around them. Dan, who laughed in spite of himself, elbowed him in the side, and Phil answered with what Dan could only call a sad whale cry, sticking out his lower lip.

“You’re such a dork,” Dan whispered as the other students seemed to lose interest and went back to their breakfast.

“You love it,” Phil teased. “I think you want me to make _more_ animal noises.”

Phil started to let out a pterodactyl screech, but was cut off suddenly when Dan clapped a hand over his mouth. Phil stared at him with wide eyes, though Dan could see a hint of mischief in them.

“If I move my hand, do you promise to stick to only _human_ noises for the rest of breakfast?”

Phil nodded, Dan’s hand moving along with him where it still covered his mouth. Dan tentatively removed his hand, half anticipating some sort of bark or elephant trumpet, but none came. Instead, Phil took a quick sip of juice before rising from the bench.

“I have to head back up to Ravenclaw Tower to help the first years figure out how to get to the Charms classroom before I go to Transfiguration,” Phil explained, “but I’ll see you at lunch, yeah?”

Dan’s nod was met with a friendly smile before Phil was making his way out of the Great Hall. 

Dan soon rose from his own seat to head back to his room for his dragon-hide gloves before Herbology, feeling much more relaxed for his first day of classes. Half an hour later, when a Fanged Geranium sproutling sank its tiny row of baby teeth into the arm of his robe, he even managed to laugh.


	6. Chapter 6

The mid October sun was filtering in through the high windows of Ravenclaw Tower, casting long shadows across the nearly empty circular common room where the four boys were attempting to concentrate on their homework.

They were sitting in various states of disarray depending on how focused they were on their work. Phil, who was deeply engrossed in an essay on performing nonverbal spells for Charms, was sitting up ramrod straight at one of the common room’s many wooden tables. PJ, who had quickly lost all interest in his own paper, was currently relaxing upside down in a deep blue armchair while attempting to think of interesting new spells.

“What about a spell that keeps your pants from falling down?”

“Couldn’t you just use a belt?” Dan asked, quill clutched between his teeth as he dug through his bag for a textbook. 

“We could ask you the same question, Dan,” Chris teased from where he was lounging on a couch, a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ left open to professional Quidditch results laying across his chest. “Do you even _own_ a belt?”

Dan answered by balling up a piece of parchment and tossing it directly at Chris’ face. Chris lazily pointed his wand at the paper, muttering “ _Reducto_ ” and turning it to ashes before it even made it to the couch.

“What if there was a spell that could instantly create a trap door in any floor?” PJ asked, swinging his legs around and sitting up in his chair.

“Peej, barring an impromptu theater performance,” Chris replied, “what good would that do?”

“Loads of good!” PJ exclaimed, waving his arms. “It’s like an instant escape from any situation! Embarrassed yourself in front of someone you like? Boom! Instant Trapdoor! A professor is questioning you about your missing homework? Instant Trapdoor to the rescue!”

As Chris and PJ continued to argue the logistics of PJ’s idea (“What if you were on a balcony? You’d just fall to your death!” “That’s half the fun!”), Dan turned back to his Potions notes. He was having trouble deciphering his own handwriting, making it difficult to tell how many times to stir a Draught of Peace potion after adding the powdered moonstone. Finally giving up on decoding the writing, he decided to ask for help. 

“Hey, Phil?”

“Hmm?” Phil answered, eyes still glued to his own parchment and quill scribbling furiously.

“Do you have a minute to help me with my Potions? I can’t make heads or tails of my handwriting thanks to my left-handed…issues.”

Finishing the sentence he was working on, Phil put down his quill and glanced at the top of Dan’s homework. “Draught of Peace, huh? Hang on, I think I still have my notes from last year in my trunk!”

Phil jumped up from his seat—almost knocking over a bottle of ink in the process—and headed toward his dorm. While he waited, Dan turned his attention back to Chris and PJ’s discussion.

“It’s weird to think about, though, isn’t it?” PJ was saying, running a hand through his curls.

Dan relaxed back into his chair. “What is?”

“Oh, just the inevitability of death,” Chris replied, picking a loose thread off of his red and gold sweater, “and how nothing we do matters in the long run ‘cause we’re all hurtling towards darkness anyway.”

Dan’s eyes went wide, staring at a far-away point but not truly focusing on anything. A slight green tint was working its way across his face.

“Dan, are you okay?” PJ asked, noticing that the younger boy looked a bit off. “Dan, be careful, you’re going to fall off your cha—Dan, oh my God!”

\- - -

“Dan, I found my notes from last year. Hopefully they’ll be a little easier to read than yours—Dan! What happened?”

Phil had returned from his dorm with a stack of papers in hand, but stopped short when he reached the center of the common room and found Dan lying face-first on the midnight blue carpet.

“Is he unconscious?” Phil asked, throwing his notes aside and bending to check Dan’s pulse. His heartbeat seemed normal, so Phil let go of his wrist and let it drop back to the floor, turning to PJ and Chris for an explanation.

“No, he’s definitely still awake, he just won’t answer us,” PJ replied. “One minute he was fine, joining in on our conversation, and the next he was just collapsing onto the floor.”

“What were you talking about?”

“Just the inevitability of death and how nothing we do makes any real difference in the universe,” Chris answered, shrugging.

Phil sighed, sitting down next to Dan on the floor and nudging Dan’s leg with his toes. “Dan. Are you having some sort of existential crisis?”

Dan remained immobile, but Phil made out a faint groan, which he took as confirmation. Phil sat in silent thought for moment, but then reached to pull his wand from his pocket. Dan shifted his head slightly at Phil’s movement, turning to see what the older boy was planning to do.

When Phil spoke, it was barely louder than a whisper, but his voice was warm and confident. “ _Expecto Patronum_.”

Dan sat up and watched in awe as thin silvery-blue wisps shot out of Phil’s wand and slowly joined together to take the form of a large lion. The lion pounced around the room gracefully, opening its mouth in a silent roar before making its way toward the two boys where they sat on the floor. 

Dan was amazed to find that the animal seemed to be radiating warmth and happiness as it circled them slowly, and he suddenly realized that all of his existential thoughts from moments before had dissipated.

“Phil,” Dan whispered, almost afraid to disturb the peace that had settled around them. “You can conjure a corporeal Patronus?”

“It definitely took awhile to get the hang of, but yeah, I can,” Phil nodded, smiling as the silver cat shook out its fluffy mane. “Isn’t he cool?” 

“Do...do you think you could teach me?”

“Of course!” Phil beamed, the Ravenclaw in him excited by the chance to share his knowledge with another student. “You just have to think of your happiest memory and focus on it completely.”

“Oh.” Dan pulled his long legs to his chest and rested his head against his knees. 

“What’s wrong?” Phil asked, watching as his Patronus slowly began to fade, a bit of warmth leaving the room along with it. 

“It’s just…”

Dan worried his bottom lip between his teeth, debating whether or not he wanted to go on. The look of genuine concern in Phil’s eyes told him that the other boy wouldn’t make fun of him, though, and he continued in a voice only loud enough for Phil to hear. 

“I don’t exactly have a lot of happy memories.”

A tinge of pity washed over Phil’s face for a moment, but was replaced almost immediately by a look of determination.

“Well, we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?” He smiled, climbing to his feet and offering a hand to Dan where he still sat on the floor. “Now, let’s take a look at that Potions homework.”


	7. Chapter 7

If Dan had to guess, he would say that he had re-read the same sentence about six times now. He was trying hard to at least pretend like he was interested in his assigned reading for History of Magic on the Giant Wars, but he was really just marking time until he was alone in the Hufflepuff common room.

He sighed and sank further back into the overstuffed yellow armchair, his legs folded up underneath him. It was getting late, and only one other student remained in the shared space, a seventh year who had been frantically flipping back and forth through several textbooks for the last hour or so. 

Finally, Dan saw movement from the other side of the room. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the girl haphazardly shoved all of her belongings into her backpack, dragging herself off toward the girls’ dormitory. As soon as he heard the door click shut down the hall, Dan reached to grab his own bag from the floor beside him and rushed toward the common room door.

It was nearly midnight, so the normally busy corridors were almost eerily silent as Dan crept through the darkened castle, peeking around corners for teachers and prefects on patrol as he made his way toward the seventh floor.

He had just finished his second pass by a blank wall across from the tapestry of several trolls attempting to learn ballet when he heard it.

“Students aren’t supposed to be in the corridors after hours, you know.”

Dan paused mid-step, turning around to see Phil leaning casually against the stone corridor wall, arms crossed.

“What…what are you doing here?” he managed to stammer.

“I think the better question is what are _you_ doing here,” Phil replied, pushing away from the wall and walking closer. “I’m a prefect, I’m just doing my job. You, on the other hand, look like you’re sneaking into the Room of Requirement with a suspiciously large bag.”

Dan’s mouth went dry and he struggled to find words. He knew Phil could easily give him a detention, but he also knew his friend wouldn’t do such a thing. In fact, he was much more worried about Phil finding out _why_ he was sneaking out so late. 

As his mind raced for an excuse, Phil gestured again toward the bag hanging from Dan’s shoulder.

“So, what’s in the bag?”

“You know, you ask a lot of questions,” Dan stalled.

“Yes, I know, curse my inquisitive nature,” Phil replied. “If you don’t tell me, I’m just going to start guessing things.”

Dan kept silent, prompting Phil to go on.

“Is it…a bag full of Dungbombs?”

Dan’s face remained expressionless.

“A giant bottle of Firewhisky?”

Phil was only met with more silence.

“Oh my gosh, is it an illegal dragon egg?” Phil exclaimed.

Dan fought hard to keep the smirk off his face as he shushed the older boy. “For Merlin’s sake, it’s a video camera! Now will you be quiet before we both get caught?”

“Well, technically, you’ve already been caught,” Phil replied as Dan started pacing in front of the wall, once again attempting to open the Room of Requirement. “Also…what’s a ‘video camera?’”

Dan shot Phil a look of disbelief as a large set of double doors appeared on the wall in front of them. “Seriously? You’ve never heard of a video camera?”

“I was raised with magic, remember?” Phil said, throwing all prefect pretenses out the window as he followed Dan through the doors. “I don’t really know a whole lot about Muggle stuff.”

Per Dan’s request, the Room of Requirement had transformed itself to resemble a small boarding school dorm room with almost no trace of magic in sight, a perfect backdrop for convincing his Youtube subscribers that he was at a normal Muggle school. Dan let his bag drop from his shoulder and onto the single bed in the center of the room.

“Did you not take Muggle Studies?” he asked, pulling out his camera and attaching it to the tripod that the Room of Requirement had helpfully provided. 

“Nah, had to leave room for more important classes.”

“Like what?”

“Like Divination.”

“Oh, really?” Dan chuckled. “And what has three years’ worth of Divination taught you, Phil?”

“I can tell your future.”

Dan stopped adjusting the tripod and turned to face Phil, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting an eyebrow. “Please. Enlighten me. What does my future hold?”

Phil stared at Dan through squinted eyes, a look of strained concentration on his face as his tongue poked out slightly. Finally, he straightened up, lifting his chin.

“You’re going to die of cats.”

Dan snorted involuntarily, rolling his eyes at the older boy.

“What exactly are you planning on doing with this thing, anyway?” Phil asked, stooping to investigate Dan’s camera, twisting the lens and jumping a little when it unexpectedly moved. “Muggle technology doesn’t work inside Hogwarts.”

“Well…there’s a loophole,” Dan replied, reaching over and switching the camera on. “I actually found a way to power Muggle devices using magic instead of electricity.”

Phil’s mouth hung slightly agape. “You…you figured out how to make Muggle devices work inside Hogwarts?”

“Yeah, it took a while to work out. I practically lived in the Room of Requirement for the first half of my fourth year, just trying out a bunch of different spells until I got it right.”

“Dan?”

“Yes, Phil?”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but…why the _bloody hell_ are you in Hufflepuff?”

Dan smirked, pointing the camera at the bed and adjusting the focus.

“I’m serious!” Phil continued, sitting down on the bed and folding one long leg up underneath him. “I know Muggleborn _Ravenclaws_ that have been trying to figure that out since practically their first day of school!”

“What, you think I should be in Ravenclaw instead?”

“Yes!” Phil exclaimed, waving his arms for emphasis. “Actually, I’ve never really understood why you’re in Hufflepuff anyway. You’re smart and creative like a Ravenclaw. And I’ve never caught any other Hufflepuffs out of bed after hours, yet here you are. Very Gryffindor of you. And you’re certainly sarcastic enough for Slytherin—“

“Phil, as much as I’m enjoying our little chat,” Dan interrupted, gesturing toward his camera, “I did actually come here for a reason.”

Phil raised an eyebrow in response. “And that reason is…?”

Dan sighed, running a hand through his fringe before shaking his head and flipping his hair back into place. “I-record-videos-of-myself-and-put-them-on-the-Internet-for-strangers-to-watch,” he rushed out, all in one breath.

“You…record videos of yourself…doing what?” Phil asked, glancing back and forth between Dan, the camera and the bed that it was pointed directly at.

Dan’s face flushed red. “No, not like that! I do, like, funny and relatable sketches, or tell awkward stories about my life, stuff like that!” 

“And then you put them on the…’Internet,’ right? I think I’ve actually heard of that,” Phil said, head cocked to one side. “Isn’t that the thing that connects all of the Muggles’ _lappy-toppy_ things?”

Dan smiled at the mispronunciation. “Laptops. But yeah, that’s right.”

“Okay, correct me if I’m wrong,” Phil continued, “but I don’t think Hogwarts is exactly set up with _whiff-ey_ access. So how are you getting on the Internet to put your videos on there?”

“I think you mean ‘Wi-Fi,’ but you’re definitely right,” Dan answered, laughing. “I can record my videos and edit them on my laptop inside the castle, but I can’t get online here.”

“So what do you do?”

“Well, I actually found a spot on the very edge of Hogsmede last year where I can hook on to a wireless network from some random nearby Muggle house, so I hacked their password,” Dan replied. “I mean, if you can even consider ‘1-2-3-4’ to be a password.”

“Sounds like they need something more secure, like the Ravenclaw common room,” Phil said, smiling. 

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but that isn’t all that secure either. I could probably break in there right now if I wanted.”

Phil laughed. “Okay, you really need to stop telling me your plans for sneaking around the castle. I might _actually_ have to give you a detention.”

\- - -

“Hey, Internet!” Dan gave his signature greeting, smiling into the camera and trying to avoid looking at Phil, who was sitting on the floor out of frame, watching intently.

“So, it’s been a little while since I’ve given you guys a chance to laugh at the cringe-worthy mess that is my life, so I figured it’s about time for another Reason Why Dan’s a Fail! Yay!”

Phil smiled, seeming to thoroughly enjoy Dan’s Internet persona. 

“I have something I need to admit to you guys,” Dan continued, a serious expression on his face. “I…talk to myself. And I know what you’re all thinking, ‘But Dan, everyone talks to themselves, I talk to myself all the time in the shower or when I’m trying to remember something.’ But that’s not exactly what I do...

“You see, I’ll have _actual_ conversations with myself. Out loud. Where other people can hear everything I—“

Dan was interrupted by a faint _pop!_ He glanced down to see that his black t-shirt had flipped inside out, the eclipse image now on the inside. Looking to the floor, he saw Phil, the obvious source of the disruption, stifling a laugh behind his hand. 

“Phil, you arse!” Dan laughed, throwing a pillow at Phil’s head. “I’m going to have to do that whole take over again!”

“Yeah, but just think how happy Peej will be to know I finally found a good use for his spell!” 

Dan shook his head, already getting the sense that this was going to be a _very_ difficult video to edit.


	8. Chapter 8

Excitement was coursing through the air in the Great Hall, students chattering eagerly and looking much more awake than usual for a Saturday morning. The first Quidditch match of the season, Ravenclaw against Gryffindor, was set to start in just a few hours.

Dan found himself surrounded by a sea of blue and bronze from his seat at the Ravenclaw table with Phil and PJ. Chris was noticeably absent for once, choosing to sit with his Gryffindor teammates instead and explaining that it wasn’t anything personal; it was just “the principle of the thing.” 

The excited conversations taking place throughout the hall were suddenly interrupted by a flurry of feathers as countless owls soared through the open window over the four tables, searching for the recipients of their packages. 

Dan typically didn’t pay much attention to the incoming owl post, as there was almost never anything coming for him (his parents had never quite adjusted to the idea of sending their son mail via a large bird). This morning, however, he happened to glance up just in time to duck as a medium-sized barn owl swooped over his head.

The grey and white bird landed gracefully in front of Phil, dropping a package into the boy’s lap.

“Oh, cool, I got something from my parents!” Phil said, turning the neatly wrapped parcel over in his hands. “Thanks, Susan 2!”

He reached out to the grey ball of fluff that was blinking back at him with wide eyes and she happily hopped up onto his outstretched forefinger, hooting softly. Phil gently transferred the bird to his shoulder, where she playfully nipped at his hair as he started untying the package from home.

“Susan 2?” Dan repeated, eyeing the owl as she lifted one wing and buried her head under it. “Do I want to know what happened to Susan 1?”

Phil looked up from his mail, a box of homemade cookies clutched in his hand. “Wha—Oh! It’s ‘Susan, Too,’ as in also, not as in Susan the Second!” He laughed. “Susan the First is totally fine, she’s my parents’ owl!”

“And you decided it wouldn’t be at all confusing to give your owl the same name?”

“What? Thinking of good names on the spot is hard!”

\- - -

Dan, Phil, and PJ were starting to make their way through the castle, heading toward the Quidditch pitch, when Phil threw an arm out in front of Dan’s chest.

“Dan! You don’t have a jacket!” he exclaimed, as if this were the most shocking thing he had ever discovered.

“Umm, duh?” Dan replied, raising an eyebrow. “It’s like 20 degrees and beautiful outside, why would I need a jacket?”

“Because it’s going to rain in about…” Phil glanced at the watch on his left wrist, “two hours.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Dan leaned over and looked out the window next to them. “Besides, there isn’t a single cloud in the sky!”

“He’s right, Dan, you should really grab a jacket,” PJ said, lifting his own coat in acknowledgement. “Phil is almost never wrong about the weather. It’s kind of scary, actually.”

Dan crossed his arms, staring at the other two boys in disbelief. “What, are you _actually_ psychic or something? I thought that was a joke.”

Phil shrugged. “My grandma was a psychic woman, and apparently she’s passed the gift on to me. Except, I can really only predict the weather.”

“Is that the real reason why you’re one of the only sixth years still taking Divination? Because you think you’re actually psychic?” Dan chuckled, still not quite buying it. “I think I’ll take my chances, thanks.” He continued walking down the corridor towards the grounds.

“Alright, don’t listen to me,” Phil said, using his equally long legs to quickly catch up to Dan. “But when it starts raining halfway through the match, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

\- - -

Less than three hours later, Gryffindor had won the match 280 to 170, and Dan was completely soaked, cursing himself silently for not listening.

Dan and Phil were alone as they headed back toward the castle, as PJ had chosen to walk back with Sophie, a Ravenclaw girl that Dan had met only briefly. 

To his credit, Phil hadn’t gloated once about his accurate weather prediction. Instead, he was talking about the more exciting points of the Quidditch match, smiling as he remembered Chris swinging his bat slightly too far to reach a Bludger, nearly falling off his broom and needing help from his teammate Joe Sugg just to get upright again.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to let him live that down,” Phil laughed. “Did you see his face?”

Dan sighed and pushed the wet fringe that was sticking to his forehead away, dreading the hobbit hair that would inevitably take over his head as soon as they made it back into the castle.

Phil glanced over at him, frowning. “I’m sorry you got wet.”

Dan looked up in surprise. “Why are you apologizing? You tried to convince me to take a jacket. Multiple times, in fact.”

“I know,” Phil replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “My mum says I have a bad habit of being a little _too_ polite sometimes. Once I ran into a table, and accidentally apologized to it.”

Dan chuckled, imagining Phil, with his pierced lip and tattoo, apologizing to inanimate objects. He may look intimidating, but he certainly didn’t act like it.

“Really, though, Phil,” Dan continued after a moment, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

Phil shrugged, the corner of his mouth turning up in a small smile as they finally reached the castle doors. “I mean, it is a little unbelievable.”

“Have you really only ever predicted the weather?” Dan asked.

“Well, there are a couple of other things I’ve gotten right,” Phil replied as they started toward the Hufflepuff common room, knowing there would already be a warm fire in the hearth to dry off in front of.

“Like what?”

“Well, when I was, like, five, I correctly guessed every present my parents had gotten me for my birthday.” Phil laughed. “They were so mad at me, they thought I had somehow peeked at all of the gifts before the party!”

Dan smiled, pulling out his wand and opening the common room door. “Does it ever actually help you in Divination?”

“Every once in awhile,” Phil said, shedding his soaked jacket as he crossed the threshold and plopping down in front of the fireplace. “I predicted a few things right last year with tarot cards—Oh my gosh!”

“What is it?” Dan asked, looking around for the source of Phil’s sudden exclamation. “What’s wrong?”

Phil stared back at him with wide eyes. “The tarot cards! I can’t believe I forgot!” He smacked himself in the forehead lightly, chuckling.

“Forgot what?” Dan asked, sitting next to the older boy on the floor. 

“Near the end of last year, I got the knight of wands! I didn’t think anything of it then, but now it makes so much sense!”

Dan raised his eyebrows, not quite following Phil’s train of thought. “Was that supposed to make sense to me?”

“Sorry, I forgot you only took one year of Divination.” Phil grinned. “Basically, drawing the knight of wands meant that soon, some guy was going to have a big impact on my life. He would be an energetic warrior with a hasty personality, and he would be quick to love or hate.”

Dan continued to stare at Phil, still not quite getting it.

“It was _you_ , Dan!” Phil said, finally connecting the dots for him. “I predicted meeting you! I just didn’t realize it until right now!”

Dan shrugged, tugging at his now-curly hair. “Are you sure that was supposed to be me?”

“Of course it was!” Phil replied. “Why? Do you not believe in fate, or something?”

Dan shook his head. “I don’t like to think we’re predestined for anything. I’ve always kind of believed we make our own choices in life.”

Phil frowned, considering Dan’s opinion. “Well, I still think we were meant to be friends. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I just _know_ there was a reason we met that day in the robe shop.”

Dan smiled, bumping Phil’s shoulder lightly. “Well, I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”


	9. Chapter 9

“Phil…” Dan whined, dragging his feet as he reluctantly followed the other boy. “I thought you were going to help me learn how to cast a Patronus today!”

There was a slight chill in the November air as they made their way across the grounds. There were barely any leaves left on the Whomping Willow, and several students were relaxing outside, enjoying what was sure to be one of the last nice weekends of the year.

“And I will!” Phil called over his shoulder, walking a little ahead of Dan. “I just need to pop into the greenhouse first! I ran into Professor Longbottom at breakfast, and he said that Winston was starting to droop a little yesterday, so I need to check on him.”

“And Winston is…?”

“My Venomous Tentacula.”

“Of _course_ he is.”

Not quite catching the sarcasm dripping from Dan’s words, Phil smiled as he held the greenhouse door open for him. Dan stepped into the stifling humidity, already feeling his hair curling at the ends.

“How are you today, Winston? Feeling a bit thirsty?” Phil cooed, maneuvering around a table toward a dark red vine-covered plant that was practically spilling out of its tiny ceramic pot. It was at least twice the size of the other students’ plants around it.

Dan kept his distance, eyeing ‘Winston’s’ spikes cautiously as Phil pointed his wand at the roots and a stream of water began to spill out of the end. 

“You can come a bit closer, you know,” Phil said, looking briefly in Dan’s direction before returning to watering. “He’s only a baby, hasn’t even started teething yet.”

Seeing that the plant wasn’t attempting to do any harm to Phil, Dan took a small step closer to the table, marveling over Phil’s gentle touch and how Winston seemed to perk up before his eyes.

“Wow,” Dan breathed out, “you really know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

Phil smiled, eyes sparkling at the compliment. “This is nothing. You should see all of the plants I have at home. My parents have banned me from bringing home any more houseplants without asking permission first.”

Dan laughed, imagining Phil’s home full of giant plants and his family cautiously working their way through them like an obstacle course. He took another step forward, getting a closer look at Winston, then turned back to face Phil while leaning against the table.

“You know, when I heard ‘Venomous Tentacula,’ I thought this thing was going to be terrifying, but I don’t think this little guy would hurt a fly—OH MY GOD! PHIL! PHIL, IT’S GOT ME! OH MY GOD, IT’S GOT ME! I’M GONNA DIE!”

Phil quickly searched for the source of Dan’s panic, finally seeing that Winston had stretched out a spiky vine and lightly wrapped it around his arm.

“Dan, calm down! The more you struggle, the more enticing you’ll seem,” Phil advised, stifling a laugh as he shot a quick stunning spell at his plant. The vine quickly let go and Dan practically sprung across the room to get away from it.

“What are you doing?” Phil asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Dan frantically inspect the sleeve of his shirt.

“I’m making sure that bloody monster didn’t tear a hole in my sweater!” Dan exclaimed, examining every inch of the light brown fabric. “This is a Yeezy!”

\- - -

“Okay, have you thought of a happy memory?”

Dan, who had his nose scrunched in concentration, sighed and slowly blinked his eyes open. “I think so.”

The two boys had moved to the Room of Requirement for an empty and quiet space to practice. The room had transformed itself into a large open hall, a fire crackling in the hearth against one wall and blue flames lighting the room from torches placed around the space.

“Alright, now take a deep breath,” Phil instructed. “Focus all of your energy on that one happy thought.”

Dan snickered and Phil crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Sorry,” Dan replied. “You just sounded like Peter Pan teaching the kids how to fly with pixie dust, it was funny.”

“Who’s Peter Pan?”

“Never mind,” Dan replied. “Sorry, I’ll try to focus this time, see? Thinking of my happy thought, all ready to go!”

Phil shook his head, smiling. “Okay, focus on that thought, let the happiness from that moment fill you up, and then you’ll say, ‘ _Expecto Patronum!_ ’”

Dan inhaled, closing his eyes in concentration and raising his wand arm in front of him. “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Dan’s eyes popped open, hoping to see some sort of majestic animal making its way around the room, but there were only small wisps of silver coming from his wand. His shoulders slumped in disappointment, and he sat down on the stone step behind him.

“Dan, that was really good!” Phil, ever the optimist, encouraged.

Dan shot him a confused look. “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”

“You did, though!” Phil said, sitting down next to him and shaking his shoulder with both hands. “It wasn’t a corporeal Patronus, but at least you got something!”

Dan stood up and walked a few steps away, running his hands through his hair. “You don’t have to baby me, Phil. I know it wasn’t right.”

“Maybe you just didn’t use a strong enough memory,” Phil suggested. “If you don’t mind me asking, what were you thinking about?”

Dan sighed, rubbing his eyes a little too furiously. “I was thinking about the day I hit half a million subscribers on Youtube.”

Phil carefully considered how to reply, not wanting to upset Dan further. “I think maybe you’re just a little too stressed to produce a full Patronus right now,” he said cautiously. “You’ve been telling me all week how worried you are about your classes.”

Dan stopped pacing and looked back to the stone step where Phil was still sitting, realizing that his friend was just trying to make him feel better. He smiled weakly at the older boy. 

“You’re probably right. Maybe we should try this another time,” Dan said, extending an arm to Phil and helping to pull him to his feet. “Want to just head to dinner?”

Phil nodded and returned his smile. “You’ll definitely get it next time! I wonder what your Patronus is going to be…”

“Probably something epic,” Dan replied, heading toward the door, “like a Tyrannosaurus-rex, or a wolf, or something.”

“Nah,” Phil said, stepping into the corridor as the Room of Requirement disappeared behind them. “You definitely give off more of a seal vibe.”

Phil’s laugh was cut short when Dan smacked him lightly in the back of the head.

“A ‘seal vibe?’ You are the _worst_ person in the world.”


	10. Chapter 10

The air was brisk enough that the four boys could see their breath in front of them as they made their way up the well-worn path between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade Village. Eager third years were racing past them on either side, and their excitement over leaving the castle for the day was contagious. PJ and Chris were quite literally skipping up the road, arm in arm, Dan and Phil laughing from where they trailed slightly behind.

“I can’t wait to get to Honeydukes,” PJ called over his shoulder. “I hear they have a new gumball that makes your tongue glow in the dark!”

“We have to hit up Sprintwitches, too,” Chris reminded him. “I have my eye on the newest Nimbus model, might try to convince my parents to buy it for me for Christmas.”

“What about you, Dan?” Phil asked, looking over to the younger boy as Chris and PJ continued skipping and created an even bigger gap between the four of them. “Anywhere in particular you want to visit?”

Dan shrugged his backpack strap up a little higher on his shoulder. 

“Well, I need to head toward the other side of town to, you know, upload my video and stuff,” he answered in a voice only loud enough for Phil’s ears. He hadn’t yet shared his secret Internet fame with the rest of their little group.

“Oh, right!” Phil said, a bright smile stretching across his face. “That won’t take long, though, will it?”

Dan resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that Phil wasn’t familiar with the struggle involved in trying to get a Youtube video to upload with unreliable Internet, especially when there was a possibility for magical interference on the connection. Dan would be lucky if he didn’t have to make a blood sacrifice or promise his first child to get it to process before they were supposed to return to the castle.

“It might actually take a little while,” Dan replied with a slight frown.

“Oh. Well, I’ll stay with you!”

Dan smiled, shaking his head. “No, I don’t want you to have to spend your whole day just watching me curse at my computer. Besides, I know you wanted to go to Dogweed and Deathcap to stare _longingly_ at all the plants and be amongst your own kind for once.”

“Hey! Actually shut up!” Phil bumped into Dan’s shoulder, knocking him slightly off the path. “You know, it’s not _that_ unusual for someone to like plants.”

“No, it’s just unusual for someone to like them as _much_ as you do. Face it, man, you have a bloody addiction!”

Phil couldn’t help but grin in response as they crossed into Hogsmeade, the streets already full of students set loose for the day. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine by myself,” Dan answered, starting toward the other side of the village. Before getting too far away, he turned around to face Phil again, walking backwards and smirking slightly. “Remember, though: if anyone tries to offer you any illegal herbs, just say no!”

\- - -

After what seemed like an eternity later, Dan’s video was finally finished processing and was about to upload.

He had taken to entertaining himself by practicing a vanishing spell for Transfiguration from his spot on the ground. He was working his way through a pile of small rocks sitting next to him, making them disappear one by one, when he heard footsteps coming up the path.

“Making any progress?”

Dan looked up to see Phil walking toward him, a few shopping bags hanging from his arms.

“Eh, it’s getting there,” Dan answered as Phil sat cross-legged on the ground next to him. “Why aren’t you shopping?”

“Already finished,” Phil replied, setting down his bags and reaching inside one. “I brought you some Honeydukes.”

Dan accepted his offering, knowing full well that Phil had cut his own trip short to keep him company, but he also knew that questioning it further would only serve to upset his always too-generous friend.

“So, how many weird plants did they convince you buy?” Dan asked, his mouth full of sweets.

Phil shot him an annoyed look, although it was accompanied by a smirk. “None this time, thank you very much. I did swing by Gladrags for some new socks, though.”

“Anything good?”

Phil dug into another bag, pulling out several pairs of quirky socks, including one covered with tiny dancing cacti.

“What’s so special about those?” Dan asked, pointing to a red and green pair laying across Phil’s lap. “They just look like regular Christmas socks.”

Phil beamed. “They sing a different Christmas song every hour while you have them on!”

“Oh, joy,” Dan mumbled, pulling his computer back onto his lap as his video finished uploading. “I can’t _wait_ until you start wearing those.”

Phil didn’t dignify him with a response, though. Instead he was staring intently at Dan’s laptop screen, which was now displaying his Youtube channel’s homepage.

“Why is your page called ‘danisnotonfire?’” Phil asked, glancing back up at Dan with a cheeky grin. “Were all of the good names already taken?”

Dan glared back, but Phil ignored him and continued to peruse Dan’s channel. 

“Hey, what’s this one?” Phil asked, clicking on a video toward the bottom of the page.

Dan’s eyes went wide with panic. “No, don’t open that one—“

He was cut off by his own voice coming out of the tiny laptop speakers.

“‘Hi….My name is [Dan].’”

Dan slammed the laptop shut and groaned at the awkward introduction his younger self had just made on the screen, especially the accompanying hand motions. Phil, however, was laughing so hard that he was practically crying.

“Oh my God,” Phil exclaimed, struggling to catch his breath, “that was the most cringe-worthy thing I’ve ever seen!”

Dan’s face flushed crimson as he shoved his laptop into his bag and stood up, starting back down the path toward the village and leaving Phil rolling around in the grass.

After looking up and seeing Dan walking away, Phil finally got his laughter under control and raced up the path to join him. Dan adamantly refused to make eye contact with the older boy, though, embarrassment clouding his thoughts.

“Dan? Are you mad at me?” Phil asked, stepping in front of Dan so he would have to look him in the eyes.

“Just embarrassed,” Dan mumbled, pushing his fringe out of his eyes. “I hate it when people see my first video. It’s so bad.”

“Dan, it was your _first_ video!” Phil replied, throwing his arms out to the side as he spoke. “No one does anything perfectly the first time they try it, but that doesn’t mean they’re _bad_ at it. Besides, you obviously did something right if half a million people are watching you now.”

Dan simply shrugged, staring at the ground in front of his feet as he pushed past Phil and kept walking.

“Why do you do that?”

Dan stopped in his tracks and looked back at Phil, surprised by his question. “What do you mean?”

“It’s like you have no faith in yourself,” Phil replied, his brow furrowed. “You’re really good at what you do, but you’re so damn self-deprecating that you can’t just be happy with your accomplishments!”

Dan stood frozen in shock. It was the first time he had ever seen Phil angry in the three months since they had met.

Seeing the shaken expression on Dan’s face, Phil sighed, letting a little of the tension relax out of his shoulders. “I’m sorry. I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

Recovering from his shock, Dan rushed forward and pulled his friend into a tight hug. This time it was Phil’s turn to be surprised.

“What was that for?” he asked, laughing as Dan released his shoulders and stepped back.

“For believing in me,” Dan replied, almost at a whisper. 

Phil smiled back, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Of course! That’s what friends are for, isn’t it?”

They started walking again, playfully bumping into each other every few steps, wide grins plastered on both of their faces.

“Oh! You should put these on,” Phil said suddenly, his tongue poking through his teeth as he dug into his bag. He pulled out two sets of Ravenclaw-blue mittens, handing one pair to Dan.

“Why?”

“It’s going to snow in a few minutes,” Phil replied, as if the answer were obvious.

Sure enough, as they were making their way back through the center of Hogsmeade, Dan felt something wet land on his nose, and he looked up to see the first snow of the season begin falling around them.

By the time they made it back to the castle, there was a layer of white powder covering the grounds, and although the temperature had dropped, Dan felt unusually warm inside.


	11. Chapter 11

“Have a good holiday, Dan! You too, Phil!” PJ called over his shoulder.

The four boys had just gotten off the Hogwarts Express and ducked through the passage from Platform 9 and ¾ back into King’s Cross, each heading toward their respective homes to celebrate Christmas with their families.

“See you soon, Peej! Bye, Chris!” Phil called from where he and Dan were standing. They were waiting for Dan’s parents, who were driving to the station, and Phil’s, who were Disapparating there, but seemed to be running late due to their Ministry jobs.

Dan pulled his phone out of his bag, the action almost feeling foreign after so many months at Hogwarts. A text message from his mother was waiting for him, letting him know that they were in the station and heading his way.

“Any exciting plans for the holidays, Dan?” Phil asked, twiddling with the strings of his hoodie.

“Not really,” Dan answered as he shoved his phone in his pocket. “Just, like, opening presents, having Christmas dinner, lying to the rest of our family about what kind of school I’m actually going to... So, you know, the usual.”

Phil laughed, covering his mouth with his hand.

“What about you?” Dan asked, slightly curious about how a wizarding family went about celebrating Christmas. “Does the Lester clan do anything special for the holidays?”

Phil smiled, eyes lighting up at just the idea of Christmas at home. “Well, my mum usually spends the entire break just stuffing various forms of cake in my mouth, which is always fun. Oh, and last year we didn’t get a white Christmas, so my older brother enchanted the living room ceiling to snow while we opened presents!”

Dan grinned, imagining Phil making snow angels in the middle of a living room, surrounded by gifts. His thoughts were interrupted, though, when he saw his parents heading toward them.

“Daniel! We’re so happy to have you home!” His mother wrapped him in a hug, kissing his cheek lightly before stepping back. “Have you had a good year so far?”

“‘s been good, yeah,” Dan answered. “Umm, Mum, Dad, this is Phil.”

Phil gave them a small wave. “Nice to meet you both!”

His parents returned Phil’s gesture, although Dan noticed both of their gazes lingering on the silver hoop stuck through Phil’s lip and the tattoo poking out just above his collar.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you in a couple of weeks?” Dan said, turning back to Phil, who smiled warmly. 

“Yeah, have a great Christmas, Dan!” Phil exclaimed, pulling a surprised Dan into a tight hug before picking up his bag and slipping his arm through the strap. “You too, Mr. and Mrs. Howell!”

Phil waved again, walking back toward the entrance to the 9 and ¾ platform, where he had arranged to meet his parents.

Dan lifted his own hand in acknowledgement before turning to follow his parents to their car, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the non-magical surroundings, as he always did after a few months back at school. He had to chuckle at himself as they descended a flight of stairs and he, out of habit, gripped the banister tight, half expecting the stairs to start moving underneath them.

“So, how long have you and Phil been friends, Daniel?” his mother asked once they were all buckled into the car and pulling away from the train station. “You’ve never mentioned him.”

“We just met this year,” Dan answered, watching London slip past his window. The streets were full of people doing last minute shopping, bundled up against the cold weather. “He’s a sixth year. So are Chris and PJ, you just missed them in the station.”

“Oh. Well, it was nice to finally meet one of your classmates,” his mother continued. “You’ve never introduced us to any of your friends before.”

“Yeah, I guess I haven’t,” Dan muttered, not wanting to explain that it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“I certainly hope you’re still devoting enough time to your studies instead of just running around with a bunch of older and more…er, _rebellious_ kids,” his father said, his eyes meeting Dan’s in the car’s mirror.

Dan couldn’t help but snort. “Phil? Rebellious? I’m pretty sure he actually makes me study _more_ than I did before we met.”

“Well, that’s great! Isn’t that great, dear?” his mother said, patting his father’s arm. His father nodded almost imperceptibly.

Having exhausted their one usual topic of discussion—Dan’s studies—a slightly uncomfortable silence settled in the car. Dan sighed, untangling his headphones and slipping them in his ears. It was going to be a long holiday.

 

\- - -

 

“Daniel, come downstairs please! Your father and brother are already waiting, and your hot chocolate is getting cold!”

“Coming, Mum!” Dan called back as he paused the video he was editing and set his laptop aside, standing up from his bed and stretching his arms over his head before walking toward the stairs. 

As far back as Dan could remember, it had always been his family’s Christmas Eve tradition to all sit down together in the living room and listen to his father read _A Christmas Carol_. He wasn’t really sure how the tradition got started, but it had always been one of his favorite parts of Christmases at home. 

Dan had just reached the top of the stairs when he heard a loud _boom!_ from below, followed by a crash and a surprised shriek from his mother.

“Daniel!” she screamed, somehow sounding both shocked and perturbed at the same time, which never boded well for Dan.

After racing down the stairs two at a time, Dan swung around the corner to find a scene that he couldn’t have predicted in a million years. 

Broken mugs and spilled hot chocolate littered the floor. His younger brother and father both had looks of pure confusion on their faces, and his mother stood practically seething in the middle of the room, pointing one long finger toward the now significantly enlarged fireplace. Dan followed her gaze to discover Phil, shoulders covered in what Dan guessed was Floo Powder, the smile slowly sliding off his face.

“I guess I should have sent an owl first…”

“Yeah, that probably would have been a good idea,” Dan replied, his feet frozen in place as he tried to process what he was seeing. “Phil, I know you love the holidays, but isn’t actually trying to _become_ Father Christmas a little bit extreme?”

When the older boy gave him a confused look, Dan gestured toward Phil’s head, where a red and white hat was precariously perched. Standing in Dan’s fireplace with a bag swung over his shoulder, Phil looked very much like Santa following a major weight loss and a shave.

Taking in his own appearance, Phil started to giggle, and Dan couldn’t help grinning back at his friend. Both of their smiles were quickly replaced by dread, though, when Dan’s mother cleared her throat, obviously waiting for an explanation.

Dan opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when Phil stepped out of the fireplace and moved forward to address his mother. 

“I’m very sorry, Mrs. Howell. I just wanted Dan to actually have his present _on_ Christmas.” A slight blush had crept into his cheeks. “Popping up unexpectedly isn’t actually that unusual in the wizarding world, so I didn’t really think about how shocking it might be for a non-magical family.”

Dan noted that Phil had refrained from using the word “Muggle,” remembering Dan mentioning his parents’ aversion to the label, and making Dan appreciate his friend more than he would ever know how to explain to him.

His mother drew in a deep breath, releasing it slowly to let some of her anger and shock dissipate. “Any friend of Daniel’s is welcome in our home,” she finally said, managing a small smile. “Just, maybe use the front door next time?”

Phil nodded vigorously in response, grinning.

“Daniel, why don’t you and Phil head up to your room?” she said, leaning around Phil’s tall frame to address her son.

Dan nodded and turned, heading back toward the stairs with Phil at his heels.

“So, Phil, to my knowledge, Muggle houses aren’t supposed to be set up for Floo travel,” Dan said, glancing over his shoulder at Phil as he started up the steps.

“No, they aren’t, but my dad called in a Ministry favor with someone who works for the Floo Network.”

“Right... Well, this is me,” Dan said, turning the doorknob and stepping out of the way to let Phil into his room.

Phil glanced around as if he wasn’t sure where to look first as he crossed the threshold. Dan was suddenly acutely aware of how strange his bedroom might look to someone seeing it for the first time. From his teddy bear lamp and video game figurine shrine, to his filming set up and his butt chair, his room was an eclectic mix of the different elements of his personality, and he subconsciously held in a breath as he watched Phil examine everything.

Phil’s eyes were lingering over the giant star chart Dan had bought at Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment in Diagon Alley, which was hanging from the wall above Dan’s piano so it would be out of frame in his videos. The stars were twinkling brightly, asteroids streaking across the midnight blue field every few seconds.

“Hmm,” Phil finally said, tapping his chin lightly as he crossed the room and plopped down on Dan’s checked comforter.

“Hmm?” Dan repeated, folding his arms over his chest and resting his back against the closed door.

Phil leaned back on his hands, looking up at the faded glow-in-the-dark stars Dan had plastered to his ceiling when he was about seven, meticulously placed in the shape of his favorite constellations.

“Your room is just so… _you_ ,” Phil answered, looking toward Dan, whose lips twitched up into a slight smirk.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all! I think it’s brilliant,” Phil reassured, glancing around again. “Could do with a bit more color. Maybe a plant or two…”

“Phillip Michael Lester, if you bought me a bloody houseplant for Christmas, I’m going to _eviscerate_ you.”

“I didn’t, I promise!” Phil covered his face, but grinned behind his hands, eyes bright. “Now, are you ready for your _real_ present?”

Phil pulled his long legs up underneath him, practically bouncing with excitement. Dan laughed and sat down next to him on the bed as Phil reached into his bag, pulling out a large, thin envelope and placing it in Dan’s hands. 

Dan raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but Phil only nodded and smiled, urging Dan to open his gift. Moving carefully as to not tear whatever was inside, Dan ripped the end of the envelope open, revealing what appeared to be a certificate. Dan pulled the paper closer, reading it over slowly.

“You…you named a star after me?” he said, looking up at his friend, who was nodding and beaming back at him, practically radiating sunlight.

“Don’t you have to get on the Internet to do that?” Dan asked, still a little shocked.

“Yeah, Peej helped me out a _lot_ ,” Phil explained. “He let me use his computer and got me on the right path, but I promise I did all of the typing myself!”

“I can see that,” Dan laughed, looking closer at the name Phil had given the star. “I wasn’t aware that I had changed my channel name to ‘dAnisNofire.’”

“What?” Phil crinkled his nose in confusion, grabbing the paper out of Dan’s hands. After seeing the misspelling, he sighed and pouted at Dan, who was laughing borderline hysterically.

“Shut up!” Phil said, shoving Dan’s shoulder. “Typing is hard!”

Dan wiped a stray tear from his eye, rising from the bed and walking toward his wardrobe to pull out a small box. “I’m guessing you want your present now, too?”

Phil nodded, eyes lighting up in child-like wonder as Dan handed him the gift. He tore into the wrapping, pulling out a rounded piece of turquoise plastic, a keychain dangling from one side.

“Oh, wow! I love it!”

“You have no idea what it is, do you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Dan chuckled, sitting back down on the bed next to his friend and reaching over to push a button on the front of the gift. “You know how you really wanted a new pet, but you’re allergic to most things?”

Phil nodded, still not quite sure where this was going.

“Well, this little guy is called a Tamagotchi,” Dan continued, directing Phil’s attention back to the small screen, where a digital egg had appeared. “It’s a Muggle toy. Basically, you get to take care of your own pet, but it won’t make you sneeze all over everyone.”

As Phil peered closely at the tiny egg, it started moving and hatched into a small creature. Phil let out a yelp and almost dropped the device in surprise, and Dan fought to stifle a giggle.

Recovering from the shock, Phil started excitedly pushing buttons, blue eyes sparkling as he played around with his new digital pet.

“Dan, this is amazing!” he exclaimed. “You’re the _best_ best friend ever!”

Dan’s heart clenched at the words. No one had _ever_ called him their best friend before. He fought to keep the overwhelming emotions off his face as Phil turned to ask him a question.

“Would it be overkill to name it Susan 3?”


	12. Chapter 12

Dark clouds were rolling across the ceiling of the Great Hall, echoing the uncharacteristic winter thunderstorm that was pelting the windows with heavy rain. A flash of lightning lit up the grounds outside and thunder boomed around the castle as Dan crossed the hall to join Phil for their first breakfast back from holiday.

Phil didn’t acknowledge Dan as he slid into the seat next to him at the Ravenclaw table, instead staring intently at a distant spot on the wall. Dan nudged his shoulder, and Phil jumped in surprise.

“You alright?” Dan asked, reaching for a piece of bacon. “You look like you just caught the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady getting it on, or something.”

Phil shot him a disapproving look, but his face remained paler than usual, which was really saying something. “It’s nothing. Pass the juice?”

Dan obliged, but knew Phil was just dodging the subject. He was about to prod him further, but was interrupted by a group of sixth year Slytherins chattering excitedly as they walked by. As Dan looked around the hall, in fact, he realized that all of the sixth years seemed unusually keyed up.

“Phil, seriously, what’s going on?”

Phil started to answer, but was cut off when PJ and Chris plopped down on the bench across from them, practically buzzing with excitement.

PJ reached across the table, grabbing a muffin and peeling off the paper. “Did you sign up, Phil?”

“Sign up for what?” Dan said, wishing someone would clue him in.

“Apparition lessons, of course!” Chris replied around a mouthful of food, crumbs coming to rest on all over the front of his robes. 

“Yeah, they put sign up sheets in all of the common rooms this morning!” PJ said, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Anyone who is already 17 or who will be before the end of August can start classes next week!”

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Dan looked over to Phil, who was moving his breakfast back and forth on his plate with his fork, his chin resting in his other hand. “Why aren’t you more excited, Phil?”

Phil glanced up when he heard his name, giving Dan a slight shrug as PJ and Chris continued talking animatedly about what it might feel like to Disapparate for the first time.

“Seriously, Phil, what’s wrong?” Dan whispered, sensing that it was something that he didn’t want to discuss with the other boys.

Phil sighed, staring down at his lap. “I’m scared, okay?”

“Scared of Apparition lessons?” Dan clarified, and Phil nodded glumly. “Why?”

“Can you imagine all the things that could go wrong when _I_ try to Disapparate? You know how clumsy I am!” Phil replied, eyes wide with worry. “This morning I tripped over my own feet in the Prefect’s bathroom and fell fully-clothed back into the bath!”

Dan fought every muscle in his body to keep from snickering at the image Phil had just put in his head, instead resting what he hoped was a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Phil, you’re going to do fine, you’re a great wizard,” Dan said encouragingly. “I mean, you can make a corporeal Patronus! Apparating should be a piece of cake!”

“But what if I accidentally Splinch myself?” Phil said, his voice trembling just a touch. “Nope, I think I’ll just stick to Floo travel, thanks.”

“What if you need to go somewhere that doesn’t have a fireplace?”

“I don’t know, I’ll figure something out. Muggles manage to get places every day without magic, I’m sure I could do it, too!”

“Phil,” Dan said seriously, prompting his friend to look him in the eye. “I have complete faith that you can do this. You have to at least try.”

“But what if I mess up and leave half my arm behind, or something?” Phil said, biting his lower lip and absentmindedly playing with the tiny silver hoop stuck through it.

“A pretty good friend once told me that no one does anything perfectly the first time they try it, but that doesn’t mean that they’re _bad_ at it,” Dan said, smiling warmly at the memory of their Hogsmeade trip.

“Oh, yeah?” Phil replied with a slight smirk, perking up a bit. “He sounds pretty smart.”

“Eh, he has his clever moments.” Dan shrugged, turning back to his breakfast. “I heard he knocked himself into a bathtub this morning, though, so who can really say?”

Phil rolled his eyes. “You’re the worst.”

“That’s not what your mum said last night,” Dan replied casually. He took a large bite of his eggs before hearing a small _pop!_ and looking down to see his robes turned completely inside out.

Phil was practically falling off the bench with laughter next to him, and soon Chris, PJ, and half the Ravenclaw table were joining in. 

Dan feigned anger, staring intently at his plate and refusing to acknowledge them, but he was secretly elated to see that Phil’s smile had returned, stretching all the way to his bright eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

“ _Nox!_ ”

Dan whispered the spell urgently, putting out the light at the end of his wand and ducking behind the suit of armor next to him. 

Only a few seconds later, he saw Mr. Filch and his beloved cat, Mrs. Norris, come around the corner where he had been standing just a moment before. Holding his breath, Dan crossed every finger and toe he had, silently hoping that the caretaker wouldn’t see him where he was hiding.

As the footsteps continued down the corridor, Dan chanced a peek around the elbow of the armor, just in time to see Filch rounding the next corner of the hallway. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Dan stepped back out into the corridor, only to jump at the sight of Mrs. Norris, who was sitting a few feet away on the stone floor. Her yellow eyes seemed to bore into his very soul, sending shivers down his spine as she stared back at him.

Thinking quickly and remembering the time he took care of his neighbor’s cat and, consequently, spent two days lazily tricking it with a laser pointer, Dan whispered out a spell. A small red spark shot out of his wand and instantly caught Mrs. Norris’ attention. He made the spark move back and forth in front of the cat, and she followed it eagerly with her eyes. After a few more sharp movements of Dan’s wand, Mrs. Norris leapt and pounced on the spark, forgetting about Dan entirely. 

Sensing his chance, Dan slipped around the corner, laughing to himself as he continued his midnight trek to Ravenclaw Tower. When he approached the common room door, the bronze eagle door knocker eyed him warily before opening its mouth.

“At night we come without being fetched, but by day we are lost without being stolen. What are we?”

Dan considered the eagle’s riddle for a moment, but then the answer struck him clear as day. He smiled back up at the door knocker. “Are you stars?”

Rather than replying, the door swung open, allowing him passage into the Ravenclaw common room. Dan entered quietly, glancing around the room to make sure there weren’t any excessively scholarly Ravenclaws still studying. Not seeing anyone, Dan silently crept through the room toward the boy’s dormitories.

\- - -

“Ten more minutes, Mum,” Phil murmured without opening his eyes, pulling the covers up over his nose as he turned over in the bed. He groaned in annoyance when someone began shaking his shoulder again, and when he finally turned back over, he found himself face to face with what looked like Dan, although he was blurred at the edges.

“Dan, is that you?” Phil whispered, reaching for his glasses on the nightstand and slipping them onto his nose, getting a much clearer image of the late night intruder. “How did you get in here on your own?”

Dan shrugged. “I told you I could get into Ravenclaw Tower pretty easily.”

Phil rolled his eyes, but a slight smirk crossed his face. “Okay, fine, better question: _what_ are you doing here? It’s practically midnight.”

“Yup!” Dan whispered excitedly. “It’s midnight exactly!”

Phil still didn’t quite understand, his forehead wrinkling in confusion.

“It’s your seventeenth birthday, you spork!” Dan said, filling in the blanks.

Comprehension dawned in Phil’s eyes, and a wide smile spread across his face. 

“I’m finally 17! I’m officially a full wizard!” he exclaimed, a little too loudly for Dan’s comfort, as he hadn’t exactly planned on waking up all of the other sixth year Ravenclaw boys.

“Yes, yes, you’re 17, but you’re also incredibly loud,” Dan whispered, laughing at his friend’s excitement. “If you want your birthday surprise, you’re going to have to be _very_ quiet.”

At the promise of presents, Phil’s eyes went wide, and he quickly mimed zipping his lips.

“Alright then, let’s get a move on,” Dan said quietly, rising from where he had been perched on the edge of Phil’s bed. “And make sure you put a coat on. It might get pretty cold where we’re going.”

\- - -

 

“Space is so weird,” Phil said, reaching for another Licorice Wand. “Like, other than what we can see with a telescope, we have _no idea_ what’s really out there.”

Phil had already torn the wrapping off of his birthday present from Dan, a Muggle encyclopedia of botany. He had eagerly flipped through the pages, running a finger over glossy pictures of exotic plants that he had never even heard of and marveling over the Muggle science terms.

The two boys were now lying on their backs and staring up at the stars on the Astronomy Tower, both wrapped up in heavy winter coats to block out the bitter late January air, a bag overflowing with Honeydukes sweets sitting between them. 

“I mean, that’s not entirely true,” Dan replied, digging through the bag until he found a piece of taffy hiding at the bottom. “Muggles have sent satellites all over the place, taking pictures all the way out to Pluto. Plus, NASA has sent a ton of people up to the moon and the space station.”

Phil sat up suddenly, staring at Dan with eyes wide as saucers. “What do you mean, ‘sent people to the moon?’ Are you telling me that Muggles have actually been _in_ space?”

“Umm, yeah? Muggles have been going to the moon since, like, the ‘60s. How did you not know about this?”

“But how do they get there?” Phil asked, suddenly full of curiosity. “Is it like Apparating?”

Dan smiled. Phil’s lack of understanding of Muggle technology was always pretty endearing. “No, no, they use rockets. Basically big metal ships that propel them up into space.”

“So, wait, you’re saying that Muggles seal themselves up in a metal tube and ride it up into space?”

“Yes.”

“ _VOLUNTARILY?_ ”

“Yes.”

“How in the _hell_ have I never heard about this?”

Dan couldn’t help but laugh as Phil flopped back down against the stone floor, and they both stared up in silence for a moment. It was an exceptionally clear night, bright stars dotting almost every inch of the midnight sky above them.

“So, what’s your favorite constellation?” Phil asked suddenly, surprising Dan.

“Um, well, I guess I’ll always be partial to Gemini just because it’s my star sign,” he said, linking his arms behind him and resting his head on his forearms. “But I think my favorite is actually Canis Major. It has some of the brightest stars in the sky, so you can almost always see it clearly. Plus, you know, it’s a dog, which is kind of adorable.”

Phil watched Dan’s face light up with excitement as he discussed the constellations, the stars reflecting back in his eyes. “You really love all of this stuff, don’t you?”

Dan turned his head slightly to look in Phil’s direction, a wide smile crossing his face. “Yeah, I really do. Probably just as much as you like plants.”

“What is it about space that you like so much?”

Dan had to stop and think about it for a moment. No one had ever asked him about that before, and because it was something he was passionate about, he wanted to make sure he expressed his opinions eloquently.

“I guess it’s because it makes me feel so small,” Dan finally answered. “When I look up at all the stars and planets, it’s all so big and getting bigger every second, and it makes me realize just how tiny I am in the scope of the universe. And I know that sounds crazy, since stuff like that _usually_ sends me spiraling into existential crisis mode, but not with this.”

Dan took a breath, knowing he was rambling a little and probably being annoying. When he looked back over at Phil, though, he was still giving him rapt attention and nodding for him to continue.

“It’s like, when we look out at the night sky, everything looks so small,” Dan continued. “But then when we look through a telescope or go up into space, we see that everything that looks tiny from down here is actually so _massive_. There’s so much more than meets the eye. I guess that always gave me hope that someday someone might realize the same things about me.”

“What do you mean?” Phil asked, brow furrowed.

Dan sighed, hesitating for a second before continuing. “Well, I know I don’t have a whole lot of close friends here, but _before_ Hogwarts, I didn’t really have _any_. I was actually kind of bullied. All of the other kids thought I was some kind of nerd just because I liked learning and did well in school, and the ‘posh’ accent didn’t really help much.” Dan bit his lip, balling his hands into fists. “I would sit outside in my garden at night sometimes and just stare up at the sky, wishing they could all see that I could be _so_ much more than what they saw.”

Tears had started pricking at the edges of Dan’s vision, but Phil graciously pretended not to notice.

“I’m really sorry you were bullied. And you _are_ so much more than whatever people see on the surface,” Phil said softly. “Those kids were really missing out because you’re a great wizard, and an even better friend. Who else would have snuck out in the middle of the night just to give their best friend a birthday surprise?”

Dan smiled, wiping at the corner of his eyes discreetly. “Thanks,” he all but whispered. 

“Of course,” Phil replied, digging back into the bag, hand resurfacing with a toffee. As he gingerly untwisted the plastic wrapper, he glanced back over in Dan’s direction. “Not to delve even deeper into your personal life,” he said in a cautious tone, “but why aren’t you trying to pursue astronomy?”

“What do you mean?” Dan asked, biting into a Chocolate Cauldron, wincing a little as the taste of Firewhiskey first washed over his tongue.

“Well, you’ve been stressing out over your O.W.L. exams for months, way more than I ever did last year, and for what? So you can work in _wizarding law_ someday? That doesn’t sound anything like you.”

Dan chuckled. “It doesn’t?”

Phil made a face back at him, wrinkling his nose.

“I don’t know.” Dan shrugged, pulling his coat tighter around himself and crossing his arms over his chest. “My parents always talked about me being a lawyer in the Muggle world when I grew up, and working at the Ministry seems like the closest thing in the wizarding world.”

Dan turned his head to meet Phil’s eyes, his fringe sweeping back off of his forehead at the movement. “I just want them to be proud of me.”

Phil smiled sympathetically, looking back up at the stars. “I definitely get that.”

“Why, does your family pressure you, too?”

“Err, something like that,” Phil replied, sitting up suddenly. He glanced at his wrist to check the old-fashioned watch his parents had recently sent him by owl to mark his seventeenth birthday. “We should probably head back. It’s getting pretty late,” he said, starting to gather up their sweets.

Dan nodded, rising from his spot on the stone floor and reaching a hand out to help pull Phil up as well. 

The two boys started making their way back down the spiral staircase, trying to keep their footsteps as quiet as possible, when they heard someone clear their throat from the bottom of the stairs, causing them both to jump nearly out of their skin.

“Mr. Howell. Mr. Lester. Enjoying our late night stroll?” Professor McGonagall asked, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips tight with clear anger.

A bright blush crept across both boys’ faces.

“What _exactly_ were the two of you doing on the Astronomy Tower? You are, I’m sure, aware that it is out of bounds for students at night except for class.”

“Umm, we—we were working on a project for Astronomy?” Phil answered, although his stuttering made the story somewhat less than convincing.

“Mr. Lester, I am not dense. You aren’t even in the same year, much less the same Astronomy class,” Professor McGonagall replied. 

“Actually, Phil was tutoring me!” Dan quickly supplied. “I was having trouble with my homework, and Phil was helping me make heads or tails of it!”

Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look. “A valiant attempt, Mr. Howell, but if I remember correctly, Mr. Lester would actually benefit much more from having _you_ tutor _him_ in Astronomy, not the other way around.”

The blush spread even deeper across Phil’s face as he stared at his shoes.

“I believe 20 points from both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw is appropriate,” Professor McGonagall continued. “And you will both be completing detention for the next three Saturdays. Now, both of you get back to bed before I decide to make it a whole month.”

Dan and Phil both groaned, their shoulders slumping as they started walking back toward their respective common rooms. When they reached the end of the corridor where they had to part ways, Phil unexpectedly rushed forward, pulling Dan into a hug.

“Thank you for my birthday surprise,” he said as he pulled away. “It was definitely worth a few detentions.”

Dan smiled, rubbing at the back of his neck as he moved down onto the top step of the staircase. “You’re welcome. And at least we’ll get to serve them together, I guess.”

“That’s true,” Phil said, clutching his new botany book to his chest, a slightly more serious look crossing his face. “Hey, Dan?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for sharing—well, why you like space. It means a lot to know that you trust me that much, to share something so personal.”

“Of course I trust you, you’re my best friend,” Dan replied, walking back up a few steps toward Phil. “I hope you know you can trust me like that, too.”

“I do know that.” Phil stared at the ground and took a deep breath as if he were working up to saying something, but then seemed to change his mind. He looked back up at Dan, his ever-present smile plastered back across his face and as bright as always. “Well, I guess I’ll see you at breakfast. Goodnight, Dan.”

With that, Phil started down the corridor back toward Ravenclaw Tower. Dan watched him retreat, curiosity washing over him at what his friend had clearly wanted to say but decided not to.

“Happy birthday, Phil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so hard to believe that this fic is already over halfway finished!
> 
> Thank you so, so much to everyone who has read/left comments so far! =)


	14. Chapter 14

“Do you think the Giant Squid is happy in the lake?”

Dan opened one eye to glance over at Chris, who was leaning back against a tree and staring out at the dark body of water in front of them. It was unusually warm for the first day of February, and the pair was making the most of a shared free period, relaxing in the shade near the edge of the Black Lake. 

Dan was stretched out, arms linked behind his neck and one headphone dangling from his ear. At Chris’ question, though, he paused his music, sitting up and looking out at the water himself.

“I’m sure he is. I mean, we all feed him scraps from the Great Hall probably _way_ more than we should. Plus, he basically has the whole lake to himself, other than the mermaids.”

“Yeah, but don’t you think he would be happier in the ocean, where he could meet a lady squid?” Chris waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Dan shrugged. “Maybe? But who would even _consider_ moving him to the ocean?”

Chris turned back to face Dan, smiling mischievously.

“Chris, no!” Dan said, realizing where this was going. “You can’t re-house the Giant Squid, that’s gotta be majorly against school rules!”

“Oh, really? You think there’s a _specific_ rule somewhere that says we can’t help our tentacle-y friend find love?”

Dan rolled his eyes, slipping his earbud in and relaxing back against the grass. “Whatever. Just don’t tell me if you decide to go through with it, I don’t wanna be an accomplice.”

“I see our dear prefect friend’s been rubbing off on you,” the Gryffindor scoffed. “There’s nothing wrong with breaking a few rules, you know, as long as you get a good _adventure_ out of it.”

Blood boiling a little under the surface, Dan shot back up, staring at the other boy. “For your information, Phil and I _both_ have detention for almost an entire month.”

Chris eyed him up suspiciously. “You’re telling me that Perfect Prefect Phil and Hufflepuff Howell actually did something against school rules?”

Dan nodded, a little bit of pride swelling in his chest. “We snuck out after curfew the other night, and McGonagall caught us.”

“Oh, yeah?” Chris smirked. “And I’m sure you were doing something _super_ rebellious, weren’t you? Trying to sneak in some extra study time before the library officially opened for the morning, eh?”

Dan visibly bristled, looking away from the other boy and focusing his attention on a blade of grass next to his leg.

“Aww, c’mon, Daniel,” Chris said, sliding an arm around Dan’s shoulder and loosely hugging the boy to his side for a second. “I’m only teasing! Besides, when does a Hufflepuff _ever_ sneak out after curfew, unless it’s to go to the kitchen for a midnight snack?”

Dan plucked a piece of grass from the ground, twirling it between his fingers. “Just because I’m in Hufflepuff doesn’t mean I’m incapable of breaking a few rules,” he murmured, ripping the blade up into smaller pieces. “Why is everyone in this bloody school so damn preoccupied with which house everyone belongs to?”

Chris frowned, struggling to come up with an answer, when they heard footsteps and voices coming up behind them.

“Mine smelled mostly like tea, and I think a little bit of ocean air,” they heard PJ telling Phil as the pair got closer. “I didn’t quite figure out the third scent before everything went sideways, though. Maybe paint?”

“What are you two doing here?” Chris asked, glancing at his watch to make sure he had the time right. “Don’t you have potions with Hufflepuff until three?”

“We got out early today,” PJ answered, dropping his bag on the ground next to Chris and flopping down in the grass, his class robes sprawling around him. 

Dan laughed, craning his neck to see Phil’s face where he stood towering over the other three, blocking the sun and casting a long shadow. “What, was Slughorn feeling extra generous today?” 

“Not quite,” Phil answered, loosening the blue and bronze tie around his neck as he sat down next to Dan, crossing his ankles in front of him and leaning back on his hands. “There was an—er— _incident_.”

“Care to elaborate?” Dan asked as he and Chris glanced back and forth between PJ and Phil, sensing an entertaining story coming on. 

“Well, Professor Slughorn was having us practice brewing Amortentia today, you know, since Valentine’s Day is coming up,” Phil started explaining. 

“Amortentia?” Dan interrupted. It wasn’t unusual for the other three boys to forget that he was still only a fifth year, and thus hadn’t even heard of some of the NEWT subjects they were covering.

“Oh, it’s the strongest love potion in the world,” Chris explained. “Really dangerous stuff in the wrong hands. Hard to detect when it’s hidden in something, and it’s supposed to smell different to everyone based on what they’re attracted to.” 

“Yeah, mine was great,” Phil piped in, “it was like scented candles and popcorn. Oh, and that scent when you first open the greenhouse door in the morning, where the smell of the dirt and the moisture in the air mix with the aroma the flowers are giving off…” 

Phil trailed off, a serene expression taking over his face as he stared out at the glassy surface of the lake. 

“Umm, Phil?” Dan nudged his shoulder lightly. “You need a minute alone?” 

Phil seemed to snap out of his haze at Dan’s prodding, an embarrassed blush spreading across his cheekbones as he ran a hand through his fringe. “Anyways, Slughorn had us working on a pretty weak brew that wouldn’t be able to do any real damage, but—“

“—but he didn’t account for Tyler accidentally misplacing his glasses this morning,” PJ interrupted, too excited to wait for Phil to get to the good part. “He was basically brewing blind, so he added about four too many ashwinder eggs to his potion and the whole thing blew up in his face!”

“That sounds awful!” Dan said, at the exact same time that Chris exclaimed, “That sounds hilarious!” The former shot the latter a dirty look, which was only met with a shrug.

“I mean, it was funny for about half a second,” PJ said, grimacing, “but surprise, surprise, a love potion exploding all over a room full of already hormonal teenagers isn’t exactly a good thing... I haven’t seen that much awkward flirting in one place since the last time Chris had a crush on someone.”

Chris elbowed PJ sharply in the ribs, knocking him over onto the grass. “Oi, watch it, Liguori! I know where you live!” 

“I still don’t understand why Tyler didn’t just summon his glasses when he couldn’t find them this morning,” Phil continued, ignoring Chris and PJ, who had started play-wrestling in the grass. “I’ve _Accio_ -ed my glasses so many times, I think they’re pretty close to just being able to come to me on their own.”

Dan shrugged. “You’d be surprised how easy it is for a Muggleborn to forget they have magic when they’re in full-blown panic mode. Once I accidentally caught my desk on fire in Charms class, and I actually started running around looking for an extinguisher before I remembered I can _literally_ create water with my wand.” 

“Extinguisher?” Phil asked, head cocked to one side. 

“Er, big red thing, shoots out foam, puts out Muggle fires,” Dan summed up quickly. 

Phil nodded. “Anyways, half the class ended up in the hospital wing because Slughorn didn’t have enough antidote on hand. But hey, at least the rest of us that didn’t get hit got the afternoon off.” 

“Welcome to the club,” Dan laughed, handing Phil one of his earbuds. 

Phil stared at the small piece of white plastic, turning it over between his fingers, not quite sure what to do with it. Dan pointed to his ear where the other headphone was dangling, and Phil cautiously pushed his into his own ear, jumping slightly at the volume when Dan un-paused his playlist.

“So. This is Muggle music, huh?” Phil said, an unreadable expression on his face. “It’s…interesting!”

“Muggle music?” PJ said, relaxing his grip where he had been holding Chris in a loose headlock and glancing over at the other boys. His gaze followed the white headphone cord down to the device it was plugged into. “Wha—what is _that_?”

Dan scoffed. “Peej, I know you’re only _half_ Muggle, but I would think you would at least know what an iPhone is.”

“No, I know _what_ it is,” PJ said, scooting on his knees to where Dan was sitting, picking up the phone and examining it. “I was thinking more along the lines of how in the bloody hell is it working _inside_ school grounds?”

“Because Dan’s secretly a genius, that’s how.” Phil smiled, his voice warm with pride over his best friend’s accomplishments. 

“I wouldn’t say _genius_ ,” Dan commented quietly, watching as PJ turned his phone over, investigating every angle.

Phil shot Dan an incredulous stare. “Dan, seriously, we’ve talked about this. Stop selling yourself short, you’ve earned the right to brag a little.”

Dan blushed slightly, and PJ looked back up at the pair, smiling. “So, Phil, your first time listening to Muggle music, huh? Do you like it?”

Phil nodded, although his mouth was set in a straight line, and Dan wasn’t even remotely convinced.

“It’s okay, Phil, you can admit it if you don’t like it. He’s not exactly everyone’s cup of tea,” Dan reassured, Phil’s face visibly relaxing.

“Wait, who did you have him listening to?” PJ asked, pressing a button and turning on the screen before groaning loudly. “Aww, Dan, come on! His first time listening to Muggle music, and you give him Kanye? Why?”

“Umm, because Kayne West is the Kanye best? Duh.”

\- - -

“This is the _worst_! I’ve never been this tired in my entire life!”

Dan blew his hair out of his eyes, looking up from the filthy cauldron he was in the process of scrubbing, practically elbow-deep in caked on flobberworm mucus left over from a third year potions lesson. 

He glanced across the table to where Phil had given up on his own cauldron, slouching in his chair and pouting.

“Phil, you’ve only been doing manual labor for, like, half an hour,” he said, raising an eyebrow as he wrung out his sponge.

“I know!” Phil exclaimed, waving his arms. “It feels like it’s been so much longer than that!”

Dan rolled his eyes, chuckling as he went back to cleaning.

“Seriously, I can’t believe McGonagall is making us do all of this by hand,” Phil sighed, gesturing toward the huge stack of cauldrons on his right that they hadn’t gotten to yet. “It’s, like, cruel and unusual punishment. If I could use magic, we would already be finished.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s the point,” Dan said, wincing as a bit of the mess sloshed over the side of the cauldron and onto his t-shirt. “If we could do the job just by waving our wands, the message wouldn’t sink in as well, or whatever.”

Phil groaned, leaning over and putting his forehead on the table dramatically. After a few seconds he turned his head slightly, peering with one eye at Dan, who was scrubbing at a particularly stubborn spot.

“Why aren’t you more annoyed by this?”

Dan shrugged. “This is kind of just how Muggle chores work? I can’t exactly use magic at home.”

Phil’s eyes widened. “You mean you have to do stuff like this _all the time_?”

Dan looked down at the cauldron full of old magical potions in front of him, then back to Phil. “I mean. Not _exactly_ like this.”

Phil huffed out a breath, sitting up and reluctantly reaching for his own sponge.

“You just need a distraction,” Dan said as Phil grimaced.

“Like what?”

“Umm… Oh, I know!” Dan replied. “Would you rather _have_ a dragon, or _be_ a dragon?”

“Ooo, good question!” Phil said, tongue poking out in thought as he went back to cleaning. “I think I would rather have a dragon. Then I’m still Phil, but I can be like, ‘Look at my amazing dragon!’”

Dan snorted. “Yeah, you having a pet dragon sounds like a great idea. I’m sure nothing disastrous would come out of that at all.”

“Hey, I would be an amazing dragon master, thank you very much!” Phil insisted, his fingers instinctively tracing along the Swedish Short-Snout on his neck. The creature puffed out a little ball of smoke before Phil remembered the flobberworm mucus coating his hands and jerked his fingers away from his skin, wiping at his neck with his sleeve.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure your dragon would burn you to a toasty crisp as soon as you informed him that his name is gonna be ‘Winston 2.’”

Glaring slightly, Phil chucked his dirty sponge at Dan’s head, who managed to duck just in time, laughing.

“What about you, then?” Phil asked, standing up. “Have a dragon or be a dragon?”

“Well, I think it depends on if I get to stay me or not. Like, if I could be like Smaug and have the intelligence of a human, but then still fly, I’d do it.”

“Smaug?”

“Oh, right,” Dan said, “add _The Hobbit_ to our list of movies I’m making you watch over the summer.”

Phil nodded, leaning over to grab his sponge off the floor from where it had missed hitting Dan. “You know, if you keep adding to that list, we’re never going to finish them all.”

Dan laughed. “Just wait until I introduce you to anime.”

“What is that? Some kind of Muggle drug?”

Dan smirked into his cauldron. “Anyways, next question… Quick! If you were locked up in Azkaban, how would you escape?”

Phil’s eyes widened. “Umm… I would eat my own feet!”

Dan shot him an incredulous look, and Phil frowned, realizing what he had just said.

“Oh. Maybe not.”

The pair exchanged a glance before breaking out in laughter, and Dan couldn’t help but think that even though his fingers were turning pruney and his t-shirt was covered in slime, detention wasn’t all that bad.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I in no way, shape, or form claim to have _any_ actual knowledge about tarot cards. Google was my best friend for this chapter. If anything is wrong...I claim creative license! ;)

Dan muttered softly to himself as he made his way through the shelves toward the back of the library, an enormous stack of books piled high in his arms and threatening to topple at any moment. Turning too quickly down an aisle, he cursed under his breath as the pile shifted and the top book crashed to the floor, echoing through the quiet and earning him a harsh glare from the librarian, Madam Pince.

He struggled to stretch an arm far enough down to reach the floor, his fingertips just barely grazing the worn leather cover and the rest of the books precariously swaying. After a few fruitless attempts, he nearly smacked himself in frustration when he remembered his wand. Straightening back up and pulling it from his pocket with his free hand, he murmured “ _Locomotor_ ” and pointed toward the fallen text, which gracefully floated away from the floor and followed him the rest of the way to the table in the back of the library.

Dan unceremoniously dumped the rest of the books onto the table, collapsing into a chair and pinching the bridge of his nose. Leaning his head against the back of the chair, he sat for a few moments in quiet denial of his Charms essay on counter-jinxes, which was meant to be two full rolls of parchment long.

Staring up at the high ceiling and listening to the soft whispers of other students in the library without quite making out any actual words, Dan’s eyes began fluttering shut of their own accord, and he felt himself slowly drifting.

“Working hard?”

Dan nearly fell out of his chair as Phil dropped his bag onto the table, jerking awake at the sudden noise. He rubbed at his eyes harshly, sitting up and yawning. “I was just…resting my eyes.”

“Sure you were,” Phil replied, and although Dan’s face was still covered by his hands, he could hear the smirk in his friend’s voice.

“You’re late, by the way,” Dan said, stars forming in front of his eyes as he pressed his fingers against them. When he finally pulled his hands away and glanced over at Phil, he was surprised to find him covered in tiny scratches, a large bandage wrapped around his left hand.

“Anything you’d like to share with the class, Phil?” Dan asked.

“Huh?” Phil looked up from where he was pulling out his Divination homework, following Dan’s gaze to the bandage on his own hand. “Oh. Yeah. I had a little bit of trouble in the greenhouse today.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Phil sighed. “Well, I think it’s safe to say that Winston has officially hit adolescence.”

Dan snorted a bit too loudly, which was met with a sharp _shh_ -ing from Madam Pince, and he lowered his voice a bit before he continued. “Shut up! Adolescence? What, is your plant going through ‘ _the change_ ,’ or something?”

Phil’s face remained solemn, though. “In a sense, I guess so,” he replied with a frown. “He’s not as responsive to anything I do for him as he used to be. And he had some kind of weird mood swing today. One minute I was pruning away some dead branches and he was completely fine, then the next, he totally snapped and attacked me.”

“Well, you already know how I feel about that little monster,” Dan grumbled, unrolling his blank parchment and dipping his quill. 

“Dan, we’ve been over this a million times, he wasn’t _purposefully_ targeting your sweater."

“Whatever. It was really only a matter of time before he turned on you, too.”

Phil gently ran a finger over a long scratch on his forearm. “It’s not his fault, it’s in his nature,” he said softly, eyes downcast. “I mean, it’s called _Venomous_ Tentacula for a reason, right? I guess it was kind of stupid of me to think he would stay a baby and all innocent forever. ”

Dan felt a sudden wave of guilt crashing over him at the look of disappointment on his friend’s face. “It wasn’t stupid. _You’re_ not stupid,” he insisted a bit sharply.

Phil’s eyes came back up to meet Dan’s, a tinge of sadness behind the normally effervescent blue.

“Well, you aren’t,” Dan said, looking away and scribbling his name across the top of his parchment. “You’re just…hopeful. An optimist.”

Dan flipped open one of the many library books sitting next to him, pulling it closer. “Just… Don’t ever call yourself stupid for seeing the best in everyone and everything,” he muttered. “I wish I could be more like that.”

The corner of Phil’s mouth turned up slightly as he started shuffling a deck of tarot cards. “Thanks.”

Dan nodded, dipping his quill back in the small bottle of ink to his left and starting to write.

The two boys sat quietly for several minutes, each absorbed in their own work. Dan tapped the feather of his quill against his pursed lips lightly, struggling with how to phrase his opening sentence. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Phil laying cards out in a cross formation, his tongue poking out in concentration as he began deciphering their meanings.

“Anything good coming up in the future?” Dan asked, deciding that Phil’s homework looked infinitely more interesting than his own.

“That’s not how this kind of reading works,” Phil replied, still staring intently at his cards, his head tilted a bit to the left and eyes squinted. “This is a questions reading, you ask a specific question.”

“Oh.” Dan relaxed back into his chair a little, twirling his quill between his fingers. “What are you asking?”

“I’m trying to figure out what I need to do to make sure I pass my Apparition exam next month,” Phil replied.

“Can’t you just ask if you’ll do well?”

“It’s not a crystal ball, Dan, they don’t _show_ you the future. It just gives you more of a...well, a guide to help you get to where you want to be.”

“Can the cards tell me how to pass my O.W.L. exams?” Dan sighed, eyes flitting over the large stack of books he’d yet to crack open.

“Is that your way of asking for a reading?” Phil smirked knowingly, long fingers gathering up the cards and sweeping them back into one pile.

Dan shrugged. “I mean, the alternative is working on this essay, so what do you think?”

Phil slid the deck across the table and Dan picked it up, tentatively shuffling the cards while Phil instructed him to concentrate on his question and focus on keeping the wording positive. Finishing up his shuffling, Dan passed the stack back to Phil, who started laying out the cards on the table again.

“Interesting,” Phil muttered, staring down at Dan’s cards and stroking his chin lightly.

“What?” Dan’s voice cracked a bit as he leaned forward in his chair, trying to make heads or tails of the deck in front of him, in spite of having no idea what he was looking at.

“It says you’re a total nerd.”

Phil looked up at Dan, smiling cheekily at his own joke. Not amused, Dan glared back and kicked him sharply under the table.

“Alright, alright, I’ll be serious this time,” Phil replied, rubbing at his shin as he turned back to the cards. “Actually, this _is_ kind of interesting. Almost all of your cards are from the Major Arcana.”

“What does that mean?” Dan asked, trying to keep the nervous edge out of his voice.

“Well, it basically means you’re approaching life-changing events that will have a long term impact,” Phil said, pushing his black-framed glasses further up his nose, “but a lot of your cards are actually reversed, which usually means you aren’t paying enough attention to whatever lesson life is trying to teach you.”

“Well, how am I supposed to pay attention to life lessons AND my actual classes?” Dan whispered pointedly, crossing his arms over his chest and sinking back in his chair. 

Phil glanced up at him. “Do you want this reading or not?”

Dan sighed and nodded, urging Phil to continue.

“Basically, all of these different positions have a different meaning,” Phil said, gesturing toward the cross that the cards were laid out in. “This one means the present.” He pointed a finger at the card in the center of the cross. 

Dan looked over at the card Phil was indicating toward. “‘Strength.’ That’s good, isn’t it?”

“I mean, usually,” Phil replied, “but it’s reversed. See, it’s upside down. That actually means weakness or self-doubt.”

Dan bristled. “Oh.”

“This card on top of it represents your challenge at hand,” Phil continued.

Dan glanced at the card and his eyes went wide. “‘ _Death?_ ’”

Phil chuckled. “Calm down, it doesn’t _actually_ mean dying. It can symbolize a lot of things, like endings, beginnings, transformations, and transitions. I would say your challenge is probably the transition into adulthood that your O.W.L. exams represent.”

Dan relaxed a bit, letting a little of the tension out of his shoulders. “Okay. What’s next?”

Phil pointed to a card next to the center of the cross. “This card is for the past. You have the reversed Hermit, which usually means….” He glanced up at Dan, biting his lip.

“It’s okay, Phil,” Dan said, sensing he knew where the card was going and the source of Phil’s hesitation. “It’s _my_ past, I kind of already know what happened.”

Phil swallowed nervously, staring at his hands. “Well, it means isolation. Loneliness.” He looked back up, meeting Dan’s eyes again. “I’m sorry, I know that was a difficult time for you, before you came to Hogwarts.”

Dan shrugged. “Like you said, it represents the past.”

Phil nodded, going back to the cards. “Well, this one symbolizes the immediate future, which actually has me kind of worried...”

Dan raised an eyebrow, waiting for Phil to elaborate.

“The Tower typically stands for disaster or upheaval,” Phil said reluctantly. 

Dan gulped, digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands. “I’m gonna fail my exams, aren’t I?” he whispered, barely audible.

“No, not necessarily! It could honestly mean anything! It refers to the _immediate_ future, so it’s probably not even about your exams!”

“Wow, that’s _really_ comforting. Thanks, Phil,” Dan said, his face uncharacteristically pale as he drummed his fingers against the table. 

Phil worried his lip ring between his teeth. “Do you want me to finish the reading?” he asked cautiously. 

“I think I’ve heard enough about my impending doom for one night, thanks.”

Phil drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he gathered up his cards and put them back in his bag, deciding he was just as done with tarot for the night as Dan seemed to be. He glanced back over at his friend, whose gaze was locked on a knot in the wooden table in front of him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Phil finally asked.

Dan’s fingers stilled where they had been tapping out an indistinct rhythm. His eyes met Phil’s, a slight red rimming the brown orbs. “What do you think?”

“Please don’t let this get to you,” Phil said quietly. “You told me yourself that you don’t believe we’re predestined for anything.”

Dan suddenly stood, his chair scraping loudly against the floor and several heads swiveling to look at them. Dan started shoving books haphazardly into his bag, not even checking to make sure the lid was securely on his ink before tossing it in. “You know, I think I’m just going to head to bed.”

“Dan—”

“Thanks again for the reading,” Dan mumbled as he moved around Phil’s chair, speeding towards the Hufflepuff common room and hoping no one he passed along the way could see him discreetly wiping away tears.


	16. Chapter 16

“Hey, Dan?”

Dan buried his face further into his pillow, pretending he was still asleep and refusing to acknowledge Connor where he stood beside his bed. Connor was not letting him off that easily, though.

“Dan, seriously, I know you’re awake.”

The other Hufflepuff reached over and prodded Dan sharply in the ribs, making Dan jump in shock and curl up into a ball.

“What the hell, Connor?” he hissed, rubbing his side before pushing his slightly curly morning hair out of his eyes and shooting the other boy a look of disdain.

“I know you told us all you were planning on having an ‘existential morning,’ whatever that is,” Connor explained, “but there’s someone asking for you at the common room door.”

Dan groaned, pulling his blankets up over his head, secretly hoping he was still asleep and only dreaming the interruption. The illusion was shattered, though, when Connor waved his wand and Dan’s blankets went flying across the room.

“Merlin on a tricycle, Connor!” he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around himself at the sudden loss of heat. “Alright, alright, I’m getting up!”

Grumpily muttering to himself, Dan reached for a black hoodie and pulled it on over his pajamas before shuffling down the hall, only to find his path blocked. 

Although it was still fairly early on a Saturday morning, the common room was already bustling with students decked out in yellow, ready to cheer on Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match against Slytherin that afternoon. Dan elbowed and side-stepped his way around his housemates, finally making it to the other side of the room and slipping out the door.

“Dan!”

Phil had been leaning against the wall across from the large pile of barrels Dan had just emerged from, and his face lit up when he saw Dan appear. He pushed away from the wall to walk toward Dan, who was yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“What are you doing down here so early?” Dan asked, ruffling his hair in an attempt to look more presentable. “Breakfast doesn’t even start for like another hour.”

“I know,” Phil answered sheepishly, “but you seemed really upset last night, so I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Dan asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I asked for the reading, and you were just telling me what you saw.”

“Dan, we’ve been over this,” Phil replied, offering Dan a mug of coffee and a muffin that he had clearly nicked from the kitchens, “I would probably apologize to a _door_ if I accidentally slammed it.”

Dan smiled, accepting Phil’s offering and taking a sip, feeling the drink warm him all the way down to his bare toes where they were scrunched against the frigid stone of the corridor.

“I was thinking about heading up to the owlery,” Phil announced, waving an envelope as proof as Dan took a bite of his muffin, crumbs falling to the floor. “It’s been awhile since I’ve written home, and I’m sure Mum is starting to get worried.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Dan replied around a mouthful.

“What?” Phil asked, feigning innocence. Dan raised an eyebrow in response, chewing slowly.

“Okay, fine,” Phil relented, “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t planning on spending the morning wallowing.”

“I resent that.” Dan crumpled the paper from his muffin and turned his nose up in the air. “I had plenty of things planned for this morning.”

“You were going to spend the entire day in bed until our detention later, weren’t you?” Phil prodded, arms crossed.

“Of course not!” Dan lied through his teeth, cursing himself for being so transparent.

“Yeah, okay,” Phil replied, smirking. “Well, if you want to join me, you’re more than welcome. Although you might want to put some shoes on.”

Dan looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes. “What, you think my feet will freeze up in the tower?”

“Well, I was more worried about owl droppings between your toes, but sure, that too.”

Dan winced at the image, turning to head back into the common room. “Give me five minutes.”

“You getting ready in five minutes?” Phil called after him. “That’ll be the day I see a flobberworm fly!”

Dan shot a dirty look over his shoulder, only to see Phil smiling back at him, tongue poking through his teeth.

\- - -

Dan pulled his scarf a bit tighter around his neck with gloved fingers, the wind whipping past the two boys as they made their way into the owlery. Several feathery heads swiveled in their direction as they came through the entrance, one of which belonged to Phil’s grey and white barn owl. 

“Good morning, Susan, Too,” Phil called, the owl hooting softly in response. She spread her wings wide and fluttered them a few times before gracefully swooping down from the rafters and landing on Phil’s shoulder.

Checking carefully for droppings, Dan leaned back against the window ledge behind him and watched from the side as Phil cooed over his pet, stroking her feathers gently as she nudged her head against his hand. 

“Oh, Dan, watch out for that one,” Phil said suddenly, looking up in Dan’s direction and gesturing toward his right hand, “he tends to bite.”

Confused, Dan glanced down to see a small tawny owl edging toward him on the ledge, eyeing his fingers suspiciously. Dan jerked his hand away from the bird just in time, cradling it to his chest protectively as Phil laughed.

“Bloody psychopath,” Dan hissed at the owl, waving his arms frantically to chase it away. The owl spread its wings and flew across the room, resettling in the rafters and watching Dan cautiously.

“Dan, it’s just a bird,” Phil chuckled as Susan nipped at his hair, “I don’t think it has the capacity to be a psychopath.”

“Whatever,” Dan mumbled, sticking his tongue out at the mischievous owl for good measure.

“Here, come pet Susan instead, she won’t bite.”

Dan shook his head at the offer, but relented as soon as Phil’s lower lip stuck out in a pout. He shuffled forward slowly, moving closer to Phil and his bird.

“Alright, Susan,” Phil said soothingly as he transferred the owl to Dan’s extended forearm, “this is Dan, and he’s a friend. You two play nice, okay?”

Susan hooted back at him happily, cocking her head to the side and taking Dan in with her wide eyes. Dan could only stare right back, a little unsure of what to do next. 

“You can go ahead and pet her, Dan,” Phil reassured. “See, she likes you!”

Dan carefully raised his other hand, gently stroking the feathers along the top of Susan’s head with his fingertips. As she began to nudge against his hand to encourage him, he relaxed considerably, a small smile working its way across his face. 

Phil, however, was practically beaming as he watched the pair interact. When Dan happened to glance up, he was almost taken aback at the look of pure joy on his friend’s face. 

“What?”

“Nothing,” Phil replied, shaking his head. “I’m just happy that I was right.”

“Right about what?” Dan asked, scratching along Susan’s neck as the owl hooted softly and closed her eyes.

“I spent all night trying to think of a way to distract you from everything you were upset about yesterday,” Phil answered as he fiddled with the fringe at the end of his scarf. “And I guess it worked!

Dan grimaced slightly. “Actually, I’m definitely still thinking about it,” he confessed, causing Phil to let go of his scarf in surprise, the fabric falling from his fingers and settling against his chest.

“But…but you’re holding a cute fluffy animal! How could you _possibly_ still be worrying about your exams at a time like this?”

“Phil, I hate to be the one to break it to you,” Dan said as Susan hopped down from her perch on his arm and went in search of breakfast, “but bringing me to a tower full of _owls_ probably wasn’t the best way to distract me from thinking about my _O.W.L.s._ ”

Phil clapped a hand to his forehead. “How did I not realize that?”

“You were probably blinded by the cute,” Dan suggested, glancing up at the ceiling as a few owls swooped in the window and landed in the rafters. They joined several others that were already snoozing peacefully, heads tucked slightly under their wings. 

“I guess so,” Phil replied, trailing off as he watched Susan extend her wide grey and white wings and soar toward the castle grounds.

“So,” Dan said, interrupting the silence that had settled between them, “what’s up next on the ‘Distract Dan’ agenda?”

“Hmm?” Phil said, looking away from the window and back toward Dan with a shrug. “Oh, well, I thought we could sneak off to the Forbidden Forest, maybe do a few shots of Firewhiskey. Might make having detention during a Quidditch match a little more tolerable.”

Dan stared back at him, mouth agape. “Are…are you serious?”

Phil nodded, but it was only moments before his laughter betrayed him. Dan shoved his shoulder, knocking him dangerously close to a pile of owl droppings on the floor.

“God, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Dan exclaimed. “I thought someone must have knocked you out and used Polyjuice Potion to take your place, because there’s no way in hell the _real_ Phil would want to do something like that.”

“Hey!” Phil interjected. “I might have a secret dark side that you just haven’t seen yet!”

“Oh, yeah? It must be hidden somewhere deep down underneath the layers of sunshine and candy floss,” Dan said, poking Phil in the side playfully.

Phil stuck out his tongue in response. “Yeah, because _you’re_ so dark and twisted.”

“You’ve obviously never seen the website I made when I was twelve.”

Phil rolled his eyes before rubbing his gloved hands together. “Okay, I’m freezing. Want to sneak into the kitchens for some hot chocolate?”

Dan smiled and nodded. “Last one down is a Graphorn!” he shouted, speeding past Phil and quickly heading down the tower’s stairs.

“Your mum’s a Graphorn!” Phil yelled after him, running to catch up.

“I’m sorry, what was that, Philip?” Dan called over his shoulder, taking the stairs two at a time. “I couldn’t quite hear you, I’m already halfway to the kitchens!”

\- - -

“Have you been working on any new videos lately?”

Dan glanced over at Phil as he lightly blew on his hot chocolate, some of the steam floating out in front of him and dissipating into the cold air. The pair had settled in the courtyard, their long legs dangling over a ledge as they watched other students starting to head toward the Quidditch pitch.

Dan shook his head, taking a cautious sip of his drink. “I’ve been trying to write a few scripts, but none of them are really ready to film yet.”

“Don’t your viewers get mad when you don’t post anything for awhile?” Phil swung his legs a little, letting his heels bump against the stone.

Dan shrugged. “I mean, yeah. But I think they understand that I’m kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my Youtube channel. I was pretty upfront with them from the get-go that they were probably only gonna get like four videos a year.”

Phil snorted, his cocoa sloshing dangerously. “I guess it’s worth the wait for them, though. Your videos are really good,” he replied. “I wish I had something like that that I was really passionate about.”

Dan raised an eyebrow, smirking a little as a thought occurred to him. “You know, you could start your own Youtube channel if you wanted.”

Phil turned to look at his friend in disbelief, forehead creased. “Yeah, right! I would probably be rubbish.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Dan said, shaking his head. “I bet you’d be amazing, Phil.”

Phil sighed, staring out at the trail of students happily walking across the grounds. “I wouldn’t even know where to start,” he said softly.

Dan smiled, happy that Phil wasn’t outright turning down his idea. “You could try being in one of my videos sometime, see if you like it,” he suggested, attempting to disguise his excitement. “Maybe it’ll finally stop my viewers from asking if I have any actual friends.”

Phil chewed on his chapped bottom lip, gloved fingers tapping against his mug. “I guess that _might_ be fun…”

“Plus, you know, it could _really_ help me get my mind off of my O.W.L. exams,” Dan said, trying to bribe his friend.

Phil took another sip of his cocoa, rolling his eyes at Dan over the rim of the mug. “Okay, fine, I’ll give it a try,” he relented. He pretended to look put out, but Dan could see a spark forming behind his eyes.

Phil glanced down at his watch, his eyes suddenly widening. “Oh! I didn’t realize how long we’d been out here!” he said as he hopped down off the wall. “We have to meet McGonagall for detention in, like, five minutes!”

“Great,” Dan mumbled, lowering himself back to the ground. The pair started making their way back into the castle, pushing past excited students heading in the other direction. “I wonder what _fun-filled_ activity she has planned for us this time...”

\- - -

“You know, compared to last week, this isn’t really that ba— _ACHOO!_ ”

“Oh my God, Phil!”

Dan quickly rushed to steady the ladder Phil was standing on as it rocked precariously from his sneeze, brought on by the dust he was currently cleaning off the top of a portrait.

“You absolute spork,” Dan grumbled as Phil regained his balance, “I _told_ you I should have been the one to climb up there.”

Phil laughed, reaching a hand out to the wall to brace himself as he kept cleaning. “Yes, but then _I_ would have been the one holding the ladder steady.”

Dan considered Phil’s point for a moment, imagining himself falling to his death as Phil got distracted and walked away from the ladder. He shuddered involuntarily.

“Besides, I’m already done with this one,” Phil said, descending the steps and wiping a bit of sweat from his brow with his forearm. “That’s one down, only…”

Both boys glanced down the corridor, taking in just how many portraits they had left to dust.

Dan sighed, realizing how much work was still ahead of them. “Only about a million to go.”

“Aww, don’t be such a downer, Dan!” Phil said, moving on to the next painting, which was thankfully low enough on the wall to reach without the ladder.

“Since when are you _excited_ to do chores without magic?” Dan asked, starting to work on a painting of a safari scene on the opposite wall, several gazelles scattering to hide from him as he approached it. “Weren’t you the one complaining the entire time last week?”

Phil shrugged, watching the witches in his painting crowd around a cauldron, brewing diligently. “At least this time we have something more interesting to look at.”

Dan scoffed, accidentally inhaling a bit of dust and sending himself on a coughing fit.

“Besides,” Phil continued, “I thought it would be fun if we kept playing our questions game while we worked!”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Dan managed to choke out between coughs, his eyes watering slightly. “You can start.”

“Hmm,” Phil said, his face scrunched in concentration. “Would you rather have a tongue made of spikes, or eyes made of bees?”

Dan stopped dusting and turned around to look at Phil. “Really? _That’s_ what you came up with?”

“Just answer the question!” Phil laughed. “I really want to know!”

Dan shook his head, turning back to his painting. “I mean, everyone would freak out if they saw a person who had _bees_ for eyes. At least if you had the tongue thing, you could keep it in your mouth.”

“True...” Phil replied, finishing up his painting and moving on to the next one. “Okay, your turn!”

Dan thought for a moment. “Would you rather have a hook for a hand or a wheel for a foot?”

“Wheel for a foot, definitely,” Phil answered quickly.

“You’d rather have a wheel for a foot?” Dan glanced over his shoulder at his friend. “You keep choosing the things that would make your life more difficult! How would you go up stairs?”

“I’d wheel up the stairs.”

“Of _course_ you would.”

Phil giggled. “Umm… Would you rather have to show _everything_ on your computer to your parents, or play strip poker with all of your professors?”

“Merlin on a freakin’ boat, that’s the WORST question!” Dan exclaimed.

Phil winced, plugging his ears at Dan’s sudden outburst. “I think you just broke the sound barrier.”

Dan smacked a slightly dusty hand to his forehead. “That’s what happens when you go _fast_ , you idiot!”

“Oh.”

Dan doubled over in laughter, wiping away a stray tear before straightening up and readdressing Phil’s question.

“Both of those things are like my literal nightmares, tbh.”

Phil smirked. “So which one would you pick?”

“Well, I feel like my Internet history might drive a wedge in my relationship with my parents for a little while,” Dan sighed, “but we would eventually move past it. I don’t think I would _ever_ be able to move past seeing some of our professors naked, though.”

“Fair enough,” Phil laughed, tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth.

“Alright, next question. Would you rather have a mermaid’s tail and your face, or a fish face and your body?” Dan asked.

“I’d have a mermaid’s tail _on_ my face.”

Dan rolled his eyes at Phil’s accompanying hand motions, but he couldn’t help smiling a little as he turned back to his side of the corridor.

“Okay, if you could be in any house besides your own, which one would you pick?” Phil asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Dan answered with no hesitation, shaking some of the dust out of the rag he was using before starting on his next painting. “I like my house.”

“Dan!” Phil exclaimed, turning around and crossing his arms. “That’s not how the game works!”

“Fine, then. What house would _you_ put me in?”

Phil stroked his chin in thought, his head leaning to one side as he considered his friend. “Ravenclaw, definitely,” he finally said. “Actually, maybe Gryffindor? No! Slytherin!”

“Wow, thank you for that incredibly clear decision. I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself,” Dan teased, a little more edge in his voice than he intended.

“Shut up,” Phil said, “playing Sorting Hat is harder than you’d think!”

“Well, I know which house I would sort _you_ into,” Dan said, moving on to a painting of a rather snooty looking old man, who turned his nose up even further in the air than Dan thought possible as he approached the frame.

“Gryffindor, right?” Phil said, smiling widely across the corridor.

Dan shook his head. “No, you’re definitely a Hufflepuff. In fact, you _might_ be even more Hufflepuff than you are Ravenclaw.”

“What? No way!” Phil said with a little more insistence than Dan expected.

“What’s wrong with being in Hufflepuff?” Dan questioned, turning away from the painting to face Phil and crossing his arms over his chest as he stared the other boy down.

Phil shifted back and forth between his feet, clearly uncomfortable and unsure of how to answer without further offending his friend. “It’s just…no one ever puts on the Sorting Hat _aiming_ to be put in Hufflepuff. Like, it’s not really anyone’s first choice, that’s all.”

Dan’s jaw twitched a little and he swallowed thickly before turning back to his painting. “It was _my_ first choice,” he muttered under his breath, dusting a bit more vigorously than before. 

“Oi, watch what you’re doing, you filthy Mudblood!” the man in the painting exclaimed, leaning around the cloth Dan was using to dust in order to be seen. “You’re going to scratch the canvas!”

“What did you just call him?”

Before Dan could really process what was happening, Phil was rushing across the corridor and pushing Dan out of his way to make eye contact with the old painted figure.

“I only called him what he is, and I’ll do the same for you, _blood traitor_ ,” the man replied calmly, lip curled.

“You take that back right now!” Phil shouted, practically shaking with anger.

“Phil, it’s not a big deal,” Dan said, laying a hand on his friend’s shoulder, trying to pull him away from the painting.

“No, Dan, it is!” Phil insisted, shaking away Dan’s hand and turning back to the two-dimensional man. “This isn’t the eighteenth century, you can’t just go around calling people that anymore! Now, you owe him an apology!” Phil gestured behind him in Dan’s general direction.

“I owe him nothing of the sort,” the man replied curtly. “If it had been up to me, Mudbloods would never have even been let in the school. Absolute _filth_.”

Phil shook his head in disbelief, laughing a little, although Dan noted it was much more bitter than his normal laugh. “No wonder no ever comes down this corridor…”

“Phil, come on,” Dan attempted again. “Just drop it.”

Phil continued to ignore him, though. “I’ll have you know,” he said, pointing a long finger in the painted man’s face, “that Dan is a _brilliant_ wizard. He’s overcome so much and come so far for being a Muggleborn and having grown up with no magic, and—“

“What did you just say?” Dan interrupted, grabbing Phil’s arm to turn him in his direction.

Phil’s eyes went wide in surprise. “I—I was just defending you.”

Dan shook his head, trying to stave off the explosion he felt building up. “No, you said I’ve done well for being a _Muggleborn_. Like it’s a handicap.”

“No, Dan, that’s not what I meant, I—“

“I think it’s exactly what you meant,” Dan said, cutting him off again. “And you know what, Phil, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. Just because I’m a Hufflepuff doesn’t mean I don’t know how to stand up for myself.”

Dan began walking away from Phil and the painting at that, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hold back his angry tears much longer.

“Dan, wait!” Phil called, running to catch up with him in a few quick strides.

Feeling the rage bubbling up just underneath his skin and not knowing how to stop it, Dan suddenly turned on his heel. “You know, for someone who constantly talks about not judging books by their covers, you don’t exactly practice what you preach, do you?”

“Dan, I—what are you talking about?”

“It’s like you’re constantly surprised by me,” Dan said, waving his hands and starting to pace back and forth as he spoke. “It happens all the time, you act like you’re _surprised_ that a _Hufflepuff_ did this or that a _Muggleborn_ said that, as if those are the only things that define me. You’re judging me by where I come from and the colors on my cloak, even though you told _me_ not to do the exact same thing on the very first day that we met!”

Phil could only stare back, slack jawed.

“And so what if I’m not the perfect fit for Hufflepuff?” Dan continued. “I CHOSE my house. The Sorting Hat said I could go anywhere, and I picked Hufflepuff because I knew they would _accept_ me, awkward space nerd and Internet recluse and all. So don’t talk to me about judging people, because you’re the worst one of all.”

Before Phil even had a chance to wrap his head around his words, Dan was turning and heading back down the corridor.

“Tell McGonagall I’ll do double detentions or something for walking out,” he called over his shoulder, wiping at his eyes as he turned the corner and started back toward his common room, where he planned on pulling his bed hangings and never coming back out.

As he neared the Great Hall and the castle’s main entrance, he was met with crowds of students coming back from what must have been a quick Quidditch match. From the looks on the Hufflepuffs’ faces, it was clear to Dan that his house had lost the game.

Hoping to get back to the common room without anyone noticing the tears streaking down his face, Dan quickly began making his way through the crowd. He should have known that his tall form would only help draw attention, though.

“Hey, Howell!” he heard someone taunt. He turned to see a pair of Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years leaning against the wall and watching other students pass by, something malicious glinting in their eyes.

“Ha, see? I told you he was crying!” the Gryffindor said, smiling and elbowing his friend. “What’s wrong, Howell? Upset that your team couldn’t hack it?”

Dan dug his teeth into his bottom lip, willing the tears to stop flowing with every fiber of his being. His hands began to tremble, though, and the other two students unfortunately took notice.

“Aww, poor little Hufflepuff Howell,” the Slytherin jeered. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Dan shrugged, trying not to let them see how much they were bothering him, hoping they would get bored and leave him alone.

“He’s probably gonna go hide in the Astronomy Tower,” the Gryffindor prodded, a wicked smile spreading across his face. “That’s where all the _space nerds_ love to hang out, isn’t it, Howell?”

The boy’s words caught Dan off guard, and his mind quickly began to reel with flashbacks of his childhood bullies. He could suddenly feel his heartbeat thumping in his ears just as Phil came around the corner and into the crowded hallway.

“Dan!” he shouted over heads, trying to make his way through the groups of students discussing the Quidditch match.

As Phil neared him, every noise in the corridor suddenly seemed three times louder to Dan, laughter filling his ears and leaving his head pounding. He realized that his chest was heaving, almost as if his lungs had decided now would be a good time to take a quick break, and he was starting to see spots of color in front of his eyes.

More and more panic was washing over Dan with Phil’s every step closer to him, and he knew he had to get out of there. He took off at a run, the Gryffindor and Slytherin laughing mercilessly in the background as Dan shoved his way through the rest of the corridor, not caring how many people he accidently elbowed with his long limbs.

Knowing that Phil wouldn’t be too far behind him, Dan turned a corner and ducked into a broom closet, calling out a quick spell to lock the door behind him. He crumpled to the ground, his breaths coming out ragged and taking much more effort than usual. He vaguely recognized Phil knocking on the door and speaking to him in a soft voice, but in his current state, Dan couldn’t even begin to make out the words.

As his heart slowly began to return to a somewhat normal speed and his breaths steadied, Dan realized just how tired he was. Still laying on the floor, he whispered out his favorite spell, a galaxy exploding from his wand and spiraling out across the ceiling above him as he continued trying to calm himself down. Eventually his eyelids started to grow heavy and fluttered shut.

Dan wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep when he heard knuckles rapping gently against the door.

“Go away, Phil,” he muttered, barely loud enough to hear through the wood.

“It’s not Phil.”

Recognizing PJ’s voice, Dan cautiously raised himself from the floor, brushing dust off his clothes and haphazardly wiping at his tear-stained face before turning the doorknob.

“How did you know I was in here?” Dan asked quietly, eyes never leaving his own shoes.

“Phil came to find me,” PJ said, taking in Dan’s disheveled appearance and frowning. “He said you wouldn’t talk to him, but he thought you were having a panic attack and didn’t want to leave you by yourself.”

Several emotions were at war in Dan’s head at PJ’s words, but he did everything he could to keep them off of his face.

“Do you want to talk about it?” PJ asked, moving away from the doorway to let Dan step out of the broom cupboard.

Dan sighed, running a hand through his messy fringe. “I really think I just need to be alone right now, Peej.”

PJ nodded as Dan started down the corridor, heading toward his common room.

“Hey, Dan?”

Dan turned, looking back at the other boy. “Yeah?”

“Phil wouldn’t tell me what happened between you guys, but whatever it was, I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t work out.” PJ nervously rubbed at the back of his neck as he spoke.

Dan sighed, another wave of anger starting to wash over him as he recalled everything that had transpired. “You know, Peej, I’m really not so sure we can.”

PJ remained rooted to one spot in surprise as Dan made his way down the corridor, feeling more exhausted than he could ever remember being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm sorry!


	17. Chapter 17

“Hey, Dan? Are you okay?”

Dan groaned, lifting his face from where he had been attempting to muffle his tears into his pillow. He glanced at the dark outline of his bed hangings, staring at the spot where he knew Connor would be standing behind the yellow curtain.

“I’m fine, Connor,” he managed to choke out, his voice a little hoarse from crying.

“It’s just, you weren’t at dinner, which really isn’t like you at all...” 

“I was just really tired,” Dan answered after clearing his throat. “McGonagall didn’t exactly take my detention assignment lightly and it wore me out, so I decided to go to bed early, that’s all.“

“Right…” Connor replied, not sounding entirely convinced. “Well, Phil is also asking for you at the common room door again. He looks kind of upset...”

“ _Good_ ,” Dan mumbled under his breath, sitting up in his bed and running a hand through his fringe. “Umm, did he say anything, Connor?”

“Well, he said you probably wouldn’t want to see him, but he did send these…”

His curiosity getting the better of him, Dan ripped open his bed hangings, not even caring if the other boy saw the tear streaks on his cheeks. Connor was holding a plate full of cookies, each decorated with an “I’m sorry!” and a small flower with a frowning face.

“That arse,” Dan grumbled, “he knows I can’t resist baked goods.”

Connor frowned back at him as Dan reached for a cookie. “Did you guys get into an argument?”

“Something like that,” Dan answered, crumbs spilling out of his mouth. “Let’s just say we’re no longer on speaking terms, so could you maybe give him a message for me?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Connor answered, sitting the plate down on the bedside table before grabbing a cookie of his own. “What should I tell him?”

“Could you kindly tell him to piss off and never speak to me again?”

Connor sputtered. “Dan! I can’t say that to him, he’s a prefect! He could give me detention for the rest of the year!”

Dan shrugged, swinging his legs back up on his bed and relaxing against the headboard.

“Censor it if you must,” he said. “Just, whatever you do, don’t let him in here. I don’t _ever_ want to see that hypocrite again.”

Connor chewed his bottom lip, but nodded glumly before heading out of their room to relay a slightly less offensive version of Dan’s message to Phil. 

Dan watched as the other boy left before looking back to Phil’s peace offering. After awhile, it seemed as if the frowning flowers were mocking him. To escape from their stares and any other questions Connor might return with, Dan pulled the thick curtains around his bed closed again, shutting out everyone and everything.

\- - -

Dan sighed as he turned over in his bed and threw an arm over his eyes. There was no light to block out, though, as his bed hangings cast out every sign that the sun was even up.

He had managed to sleep through most of Sunday, ignoring all of his roommates’ prying questions and offers to walk with him to breakfast or lunch. He knew it was second nature for the Hufflepuffs to offer help when someone was obviously hurting, but when he was on the receiving end, it could be a bit stifling.

He had fully intended to stay in bed for the rest of the day rather than face the world, but his growling stomach seemed to have other plans. He spent about five minutes debating with himself about whether or not to _Accio_ some dinner to his blanket cocoon. Finally deciding a plate floating down the corridor would probably look a little suspicious, he groaned and kicked the blankets away.

Glancing over at the mirror across the room, he briefly considered strolling into dinner in his Pokémon pajama pants and bed head. The thought of Phil seeing just how much his words had affected him, though, soon had Dan digging through his trunk for something more presentable to wear.

As he reached the Great Hall, Dan stopped just short of the doors, taking a deep breath to steady himself before seeing his _former_ best friend for the first time since his betrayal the night before. 

When he finally convinced himself to walk through the door rather than running straight back to the Hufflepuff common room, he adopted an air of confidence, willing himself to not even _look_ over at the Ravenclaw table. His curiosity got the better of him, though, and he soon felt his eyes straying to that side of the hall. He gaze briefly met PJ and Chris’ and he quickly looked away, but he was surprised to see that Phil wasn’t sitting with them.

Dan sank down into a seat at the Hufflepuff table, earning him a few curious glances; it had been several months since he had sat at his own house’s table by himself. He pretended not to notice the stares as he picked up a fork and dug into his food, but he once again couldn’t help but look back up. Dan was relieved when his eyes met Connor’s and the other boy’s face broke into a reassuring smile.

“Oh, God, he looks _awful_.”

Dan’s heart rate spiked at Tyler’s not-so-quiet whisper from across the table, assuming he was referring to Dan’s own appearance. However, he soon realized that Tyler was not looking in his direction, but rather across the hall toward the main doors.

Dan’s stomach dropped when he saw Phil standing in the entrance to the Great Hall. The older boy’s normally perfect black fringe was sticking up in every direction, his eyes red-rimmed behind his glasses, and his clothes—which Dan noticed he hadn’t changed since the last time he saw him—were wrinkled beyond belief, likely from sleeping in them. He was absentmindedly playing with the silver hoop stuck through his lip as he shuffled his feet across the hall, collapsing into the empty seat next to PJ.

Dan quickly tore his eyes away from the other boy, feeling tears prickling behind his vision, a far too common occurrence in the last 24 hours. He moved his food back and forth on his plate with his fork, but he no longer had much of an appetite.

He had, of course, known how upset their exchange had left _him_ the night before, but he had never once imagined that Phil might be hurting just as much. Perhaps maybe even more so, from the looks of it.

Dan suddenly felt as if someone had cranked up the heat in the Great Hall, and he couldn’t just sit there any longer. He pushed away from his seat and swung his long legs over the bench, rushing out of the castle and onto the grounds. 

He didn’t have a coat and the February air was brisk around him, but Dan reveled in the shock to his system as he took in a deep breath and started walking in no particular direction.

Virtually every bit of anger he had felt toward Phil had vanished as soon as he saw the look of remorse on the older boy’s face. In fact, Dan wasn’t sure he was ever _really_ mad at him to begin with. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans, Dan laughed to himself at the very idea: Phil Lester was an incredibly difficult person to stay mad at. 

As he walked around the shore of the Black Lake, Dan kicked lightly at a rock with the toe of his trainers, knocking it into the water. 

Even as he had felt himself blowing up the day before, he had known that Phil didn’t actually mean to imply that Dan was somehow inferior for being a Muggleborn. And, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly _Phil’s_ fault that the prejudice against Hufflepuff ran so deep in the wizarding world.

Dan stopped walking, staring up at the grey skies above him for a moment. 

Growing up without a best friend, Dan had always convinced himself that if he ever found someone to fill that hole in his life, everything would just fall into place. If anyone ever took that big of an interest in Dan, saw all of his flaws and _still_ wanted to stick around, then everything would just be perfect. He had always dreamed of the effect a best friend would have on him: he had never stopped to consider the impact _he_ would have on _them_.

Looking out over the lake, Dan saw ripples spreading out from the middle of the otherwise still waters, undoubtedly from the Giant Squid. Each small movement beneath the water left lasting undulations above, ruining the smooth and glassy appearance of the surface.

He couldn’t get the miserable look on Phil’s face out of his mind. Knowing that _he_ had caused that look to appear on happy, wonderful Phil’s face hurt Dan to his very soul.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, swiping at the tear running down his cheek with his sweater paw.

Phil was happy before they met, he decided. He would be happy again without Dan constantly messing up his life.

As he watched a particularly large ripple spread across the water, Dan knew what he had to do.


	18. Chapter 18

Dan could see his breath coming out in puffs in front of him as he made his way out of the castle. He drew his cloak tighter around himself, half to keep out the cold air whipping through his uniform, and half to comfort himself over what he was about to do.

Several Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth years were passing Dan on their way out of Herbology, heading back inside after their last class of the day. Dan’s eyes went wide as he saw Chris and PJ approaching, and he quickly ducked behind the nearest greenhouse to avoid them.

“I just wish I knew what to do for him,” Dan heard PJ say as the two older boys passed by his hiding spot. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Yeah, and that damn plant sure picked a great time to go south,” Chris added, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Did he happen to tell you how long he was planning on staying out here?”

“He’d probably stay all night if we let him,” PJ replied, his voice harder for Dan to make out as they got further away. “If he’s not back in the castle by dinner, I’ll come back out for him.”

After Dan was sure that Chris and PJ were far enough away that they wouldn’t see him, he crept out from behind the greenhouse he was using to hide and headed toward the one he knew Phil would still be in. His heart hammered against his chest as he gently opened the door.

“Come on, Winston, please perk up. Don’t do this to me _now_ , of all times.”

Dan winced when he heard Phil’s pleas, seeing the other boy crouched over his plant on the other end of the greenhouse, water pouring out of his wand and onto its roots.

Dan chewed harshly on his bottom lip, the coppery taste of blood surprising him when it hit his tongue. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to sneak back out the door before Phil could see him, but Dan willed his feet to stay where they were. As much as this was going to hurt the both of them, he knew that it had to be done if he wanted Phil to move on with his life without Dan in the picture.

As Dan was contemplating how to start what he knew would be the most painful conversation he had ever had, Phil glanced toward the door, jumping in surprise and letting out a small yelp when he noticed Dan standing there.

“Dan! Merlin’s beard, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” The older boy clutched at his chest, swiveling on the small stool he had perched in front of his ailing plant to face Dan. “What are you doing here?”

Dan shrugged, walking a bit further into the greenhouse and toying with the leaves of a nearby flower. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked, nodding his head in Winston’s direction.

“I’m not entirely sure. Nothing seems to be immediately wrong.” Phil looked back to his plant, frowning. “I’ve read research suggesting that some magical plants are influenced by dramatic changes in the emotions of the person who cares for them, though.”

Dan sighed, feeling his heart sink practically to his feet. 

“What do you want, Dan?” Phil asked, turning away from his plant, his face a mix of confusion and curiosity. “You don’t have Herbology on Wednesdays, so you’re obviously only here to see me.”

“Obviously?” Dan repeated, keeping his attention focused on the flower beside him, not wanting to meet Phil’s gaze for fear that he would cave.

In the corner of his eye, Dan saw Phil rise from the small stool, leaning back against the soil-covered work table. A tense silence hovered in the greenhouse as Phil waited for Dan to speak up. 

Finally looking up to see Phil staring back at him expectantly, Dan let out a breath that he didn’t even realize he was holding in. “We need to talk.”

Phil chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

Dan glared back at him.

“Seriously, Dan, you’ve refused to talk to me for days, ignoring all of my attempts to apologize. Why now?”

“Because I was hoping you would get the message on your own, but since you keep trying to fix things, I clearly need to spell it all out for you,” Dan spat back, hoping the edge in his voice was convincing enough. He needed to start this argument; it didn’t matter what it was about, it just needed to be now. 

“What—what message?” Phil asked, worry clouding his face.

Dan clenched his fist at his side, digging his nails into his palm. “That we’re done.”

“Done?”

Dan nodded.

Phil gulped. “What—what do you mean by ‘done?’”

“I _mean_ that we are no longer best friends,” Dan lied through his teeth, hoping Phil couldn’t see his hands shaking.

“Are—are you _serious_?” Phil stuttered out, bracing his hands on the table behind him, oblivious to the soil now coating his fingers. “You want to throw our entire friendship out the window over some stupid _misunderstanding_?”

Dan shrugged, teeth returning to his already chapped lips.

“Dan, you _know_ I didn’t mean to imply anything by what I said the other day,” Phil attempted to reason with him. “It’s just…that stupid portrait got under my skin, and I wasn’t really thinking through what I was saying.”

“That’s kinda my point, Phil,” Dan snarled. “You weren’t filtering yourself for what I can only assume was the first time in your life, just saying what you actually felt, and in doing so, you managed to horrifically offend your best friend.”

“What do you mean, filtering myself?” Phil had started wildly gesticulating, accidentally flinging dirt around him. “I always say exactly what I’m thinking, you guys get annoyed with me for it all the time!”

“Yeah, you do, when it comes to useless plant facts or making stupid animal noises,” Dan replied. “But unless it fits into your image of pure sunshine and innocence, you just keep your feelings all bottled up to yourself!”

Phil bristled, though his eyes never left Dan’s. “I don’t see how any of this has anything to do with us not being best friends anymore.”

“It has _everything_ to do with it,” Dan exclaimed, a little surprised with how easily this was coming. “Best friends _share_ , Phil. They tell each other how they’re feeling, even the bad stuff, because they know their friendship can handle it. But you’ve never shared _anything_ with me that wasn’t superficial, right on the surface. Sometimes I feel like I barely even know you!”

“That’s not true!”

“It is, Phil! What about that night on the Astronomy Tower? I told you all about my childhood, my bullies, my parents, everything. But the second I asked about _your_ life outside Hogwarts, you were suddenly making excuses to leave!”

This time it was Phil’s turn to stare at the ground, not sure what to say.

“How could you let me bare my soul, tell you my whole life, and then just get up and leave?” Dan asked, almost at a whisper. “Do you have any idea how _insecure_ that made me feel?”

“It’s not my fault you’re so damn insecure!” Phil suddenly exploded, his voice echoing off the narrow walls of the greenhouse and assaulting Dan’s ears. “God, you’re so needy and dependent! And paranoid, oh my _God!_ You’re always so worried about what _everyone_ thinks about you _all_ the time! Let me clue you in, Dan: no one else is paying _any_ attention to what you do!”

Taking in Dan’s eyes, wide with shock, Phil’s expression quickly shifted to one of regret, his hands flying up to cover his mouth. “Dan, oh my God, I didn’t mean that, I—”

“No, Phil,” Dan said, shaking his head and laughing coldly, “you did. You felt something other than happiness and butterflies, and for once, you actually _expressed_ it. And that’s _exactly_ why we shouldn’t be friends anymore.”

Phil frowned back at him, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

Dan took a deep breath. “We bring out the worst in each other, it’s not healthy. We’d be better off to just go our separate ways now and be done with it.”

“Is that really what you want?” Phil jaw twitched as he grit his teeth. 

“Yes,” Dan answered quickly, hoping the other boy didn’t notice the slight break in his voice. 

Phil glanced down at his shoes for a moment, but when he looked back in his direction, Dan couldn’t help but shiver. The warmth that was usually behind Phil’s eyes had vanished, leaving them a colder blue than Dan had ever seen them, like diving frozen Arctic waters, stinging Dan like needles.

Now, Dan had certainly never had the misfortune to be in the presence of a Dementor, nor had he ever met anyone who had, but he imagined that it would feel very much like the atmosphere that surrounded them in the greenhouse. As he stared back at Phil’s chilly expression, he felt as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room, along with every ounce of happiness that had ever existed between them.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this,” Phil said calmly, “but if you’re so deadset on turning me against you, then that’s fine by me.”

The older boy pushed past Dan toward the exit, pausing in the doorway to speak again.

“I wish you all the best, Dan.”

Dan swallowed thickly as Phil let the door swing shut behind him, feeling tears briefly stinging his eyes before they finally began spilling down his face with a vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me! I promise, it WILL have a happy ending!


	19. Chapter 19

“Hey, Howell!”

Dan pulled his nose out of the textbook lying open in front of him, looking across the library to see Chris and PJ making their way through the maze of tables in his direction. Chris’ eyes were narrowed and his face was flushed red as PJ tugged on his arm.

“Chris, please don’t do this here,” PJ pleaded as Chris pulled his arm out of his grasp, “Madam Pince will probably have a stroke if you make a scene in here!”

As the pair got closer to his table, Dan shrank down further in his chair, trying to hide as much of his height as possible. He was starting to regret not getting behind PJ’s instant trapdoor spell, as it would have really come in handy at the moment.

Dan stared resolutely at his textbook, the words swimming in front of his eyes, until a hand came into his vision and slammed the book shut. He looked up to see Chris staring him down, steam practically pouring out of his ears.

“I have a question for you, Howell,” he managed to say rather calmly.

Dan gulped, hoping the panic wasn’t evident on his face.

Having gotten Dan’s attention, Chris crossed his arms over his chest. “Just who, might I ask, shoved a Bowtruckle up your arse this week?”

Dan and PJ both sputtered, a little surprised at Chris’ casually abrasive tone.

“I—I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dan replied, rolling up the parchment he had been writing on and putting the stopper back in his inkbottle.

“You know _exactly_ what I’m talking about,” Chris insisted. “Or are you suggesting that Phil Lester, precious cinnamon roll of a human being, has been upstairs crying in his room for no reason?”

“No reason?” Dan answered, rising from his seat to assert his height over the two older boys. “I’m pretty sure he had a fairly big hand in creating this whole situation.”

“What situation, though, Dan?” PJ whispered, looking over his shoulder to see if Madam Pince was watching them. “Neither of you will even tell us what happened!”

Dan shook his head, knowing that if he wanted to keep up his façade of anger with Phil, he would have to rip the plaster and turn Chris and PJ against him, too.

“What happened makes no difference,” he said, shoving his book into his bag and pulling the strap up on his shoulder. “Phil knows exactly what he did, and I never want to see his stupid face again.”

PJ simply frowned as Dan pushed past them, starting toward the library doors. Chris’ ears, however, flushed red; he wasn’t letting Dan get the last word.

“You know what, Howell?” he said, grabbing the younger boy’s shoulder and spinning him back around. “If you’re the _one_ person in this world actually capable of staying mad at Phil Lester for more than a few minutes, then maybe you don’t even _deserve_ to have him in your life.”

“Good,” Dan answered calmly, though his heart was banging against the walls of his chest. “In fact, I wish I had never even walked into that stupid robe shop that day.”

“Dan,” PJ sighed, “you don’t really mean that.”

“No, I really do,” Dan replied. “I think we _all_ would have been better off if Phil Lester had never even met me.”

Leaving the other two boys staring at him open-mouthed, Dan turned back toward the exit, tears brimming as he realized that what he had just said was completely true, even if not for the reasons he had just implied.

\- - -

“Hello, Internet! Have you guys ever— I mean, do any of you— Am I the only one who—“

Dan blinked at the camera that was staring back at him. The recording light was flashing, mocking him for losing his train of thought again. This was the fourth time he had tried to start this video, and he had just ruined yet another take.

He sighed, leaning to rest his forehead on the desk in front of him.

“Have any of you guys ever completely screwed up your life and made yourself more miserable and alone than you’ve ever felt?” he mumbled against the polished oak.

When he was answered only with silence, Dan sat back up and reached to turn off his camera, seeing as there was no way he was getting a useable take tonight.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his eyes before glancing around the incredibly empty room. While it had only been two days since their falling out in the greenhouse, it felt like _ages_ since the Room of Requirement had last been filled with his and Phil’s laughter while Dan was filming, or Phil’s encouraging words as Dan practiced creating a Patronus. 

Curiosity getting the better of him, Dan reached for his wand where he had left it out of view of the camera. He pointed the thin piece of ash at the empty space to his right, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

“ _Expecto Patronum_.”

Dan cautiously opened one eye, not really hoping for much, but expecting to at least see the same silvery mist as the last time he had attempted the spell. However, he hadn’t even managed that much. The space next to him was still completely empty, and this time he had no Phil to encourage him to keep trying. 

The room suddenly felt far too large, silence pounding in Dan’s ears. He pulled his camera off its tripod and stuffed it into his bag, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor as he quickly made his way back out into the corridor.

He stared at his feet as he made his way down the stairs, watching as the zippers covering his shoes bounced with each step. There were only a few people in the corridor, as most of the castle was already in the Great Hall for dinner, so Dan was more than a little surprised when he heard his name called.

“Howell!”

Dan turned to see Professor McGonagall heading toward him. He felt a sense of panic set in, thinking she had seen him sneaking out of the Room of Requirement.

“Professor! I was just heading to dinner, that’s all!” he stammered, knuckles white on the strap of his bag.

The headmistress’ eyes narrowed a bit as she reached him. “I'll choose to ignore how suspicious that sounded for the moment,” she said, one eyebrow crooked. “I just wanted to let you know that you will no longer be required to complete your detention tomorrow evening.”

“I—what?”

“Mr. Lester explained to me that your little midnight _excursion_ a few weeks ago was solely his idea, that he had forced you to go along with his plan against your will, and that you did not deserve detention.”

Dan blinked back at her for a moment, trying to wrap his head around what she was telling him. “He—he did?”

“He did, indeed,” Professor McGonagall continued. “Now, why a prefect, particularly one who has never once stepped so much as a _toe_ out of line in his six years of school, would suddenly come up with such a plan does not quite make sense in my mind.”

Dan swallowed, chewing at his lip.

“However, as Mr. Lester was _quite_ insistent that you were not involved and agreed to complete a fourth detention to make up for his indiscretion, I will choose to take his word for it this time.”

Dan nodded, letting out the breath he was holding in as Professor McGonagall began walking away.

“Oh, and Howell?”

Dan turned to face the headmistress, who looked back at him glumly.

“See if you can figure out what’s bothering Lester,” she said, her voice warmer than usual. “He seemed a bit down when he spoke with me this morning. I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen that boy without a smile on his face in the last six years, it’s quite concerning.”

“I—Of course, Professor. I’ll try to talk to him.”

Professor McGonagall nodded, mouth set in a straight line, before heading back down the corridor.

Still a little shocked, Dan continued down the stairs, making his way into the already crowded Great Hall. 

As he crossed through the open double doors, he immediately felt three pairs of eyes boring into him. He glanced at the Ravenclaw table and was met with decidedly pointed glares from PJ and Chris. Phil was staring, too, but Dan couldn’t help but notice there was much less ice floating behind the blue than the last time he had seen them.

 

\- - -

As the heavy wooden door swung shut behind him, Dan let out a weighty sigh that he had been holding in for the last half hour, resting his forehead against the cool stone of the corridor wall.

His meeting with his head of house to discuss his upcoming OWL exams and his “plans” for his future had turned out to be even more daunting than he had anticipated. He had spent the majority of the meeting in a cold sweat, doing his best to nod when expected and to provide answers to questions he had never even asked _himself_. How was he supposed to know where he sees himself in five years? He couldn’t predict the future; he had dropped Divination the very _second_ he finished his third year.

Dan straightened back up, pushing away from the wall and shuffling down the corridor. One thing he had ascertained from the meeting from hell was that he was nowhere _near_ ready for his exams, so rather than turning toward the Hufflepuff common room, he headed straight for his favorite study spot.

The first week of March had brought along much warmer weather, and there were students dotted all along the castle grounds, soaking up the year’s first little taste of spring. As Dan neared the edge of the Great Lake, he was relieved to see that no one had claimed his favorite towering tree, and he quickly dropped his bag at its roots and relaxed back against the trunk. 

Spreading his books and notes across the grass in front of him and starting on his plan of attack, Dan was, perhaps for the first time since starting Hogwarts, thankful for the lack of Wi-Fi around the castle. Every bone in his procrastinating body was aching to scroll endlessly online, but without an Internet connection to speak of, he found himself actually being able to focus on his work for a change.

Dan was deeply engrossed in his History of Magic notes, attempting to memorize the most important names involved in the eighteenth century’s Goblin riots, when a far too familiar voice broke his concentration.

“Oh! Sorry, I—I didn’t expect you to be here.”

Dan glanced up from the parchment clutched between his fingers to find Phil, a deep blush spreading across the older boy’s face as he shifted his backpack to his other shoulder and stared at his shoes.

Dan struggled to find his own voice, only able to watch as Phil nervously fidgeted in front of him. He had, of course, known that this was also one of Phil’s preferred study spots, but in his haste to prepare for his exams, he hadn’t even so much as entertained the idea that he could run into the other boy there.

“I’ll just—I’m leaving,” Phil said, breaking the silence that lingered between them.

“No!” Dan blurted as he jumped to his feet, feeling the panic starting to bubble in his stomach at the idea of further disrupting Phil’s life; wasn’t that the very thing he was trying to _avoid_ with all of this?

Phil’s eyes widened and he recoiled a bit at Dan’s sudden outburst, taking a step back from the tree.

“I’m actually finished,” Dan explained, shoving his belongings back into his bag haphazardly, “it’s all yours.”

When Phil simply stared back at him, one eyebrow raised behind his glasses, Dan realized just how generous his actions seemed for someone who was supposedly upset with the other.

“I mean,” Dan sputtered, trying to bring a bitter tone to his voice, “just this once, to make up for you covering for me with McGonagall. I wouldn’t want to feel like I _owe_ you anything, or…whatever.”

For good measure, Dan bumped Phil’s shoulder as he pushed past him, knocking the older boy a little off balance for a moment. Heading back toward the castle, Dan couldn’t help but chuckle at the accidental symbolism, as he felt pretty off kilter himself.

\- - -

As his chin lolled against his chest, Dan jerked awake, panicking a little when he didn’t immediately recognize his surroundings.

The Hufflepuff common room was much darker than when Dan had first collapsed into the overstuffed yellow armchair a few hours before. The only source of light remaining in the room was the bright fire crackling in the hearth in front of him, and as Dan glanced around, he saw that the rest of the students who had been studying in the lounge must have left while he was asleep.

Although studying in the common room had virtually eliminated his chances of accidentally running into Phil, the heat of the fire and the comfy seating was doing nothing to help his grades, as a quick glance at his watch told him that it was nearing midnight. Thanks to his impromptu nap, Dan was nowhere near finished memorizing the ingredients and steps required to brew a successful Polyjuice Potion for class in the morning, and he still had 24 inches of parchment to review identifying werewolves due for Defense the next afternoon, meaning he still had a long night ahead. 

Stretching his arms over his head and stifling a loud yawn, Dan realized that to make it through the night, he was going to need a caffeine boost. 

Sitting his Potions book on the arm of his chair, Dan rose from his seat and headed toward the door. He poked his head out of the large barrel concealing the entrance to the common room, diligently looking in both directions to make sure no prefects—especially Phil—were patrolling the corridor. 

After not seeing anyone, he quickly snuck across the hall to a portrait of a large bowl of fruit. Dan stretched his arm up to lightly tickle a giant pear, which shivered for a moment before transforming into a huge green handle. He twisted the handle and pushed, revealing a doorway and rushing through it.

Dan blinked several times at the brightness of the kitchens, flickering candles reflecting off of the countless brass pots and pans scattered throughout the massive room. As he crossed the threshold, he saw quite a few small heads swivel in his direction as the kitchen house-elves took notice of him. Several of the elves rushed toward him, ready to offer any and everything in the kitchens.

“Good evening, sir,” squeaked an excited elf near his elbow, “will you be having your regular?”

Dan blushed crimson, both from being called “sir” and at the fact that he had made enough midnight trips to the kitchens over the last couple of weeks for the elves to memorize his coffee preferences.

“Umm, that would be great, thanks,” Dan said, scratching at the back of his neck as the elf hurried off to prepare his drink. “But there’s no need to call me sir, please just call me Dan.”

“Yes, of course, Dan, sir,” the elf replied cheerily, extending his small arms up to hand Dan the caramel-laced, sugary concoction, giving Dan a sweeping bow afterwards.

Dan smiled politely, but shook his head a bit as the elves got back to cleaning up the aftermath of dinner from a few hours before. He had told the elves countless times that they really didn’t need to bow to him, but they insisted.

“Thank you all, very much!” Dan called, smiling and waving with his free hand as he started back toward the kitchen door. His ears were met with a chorus of “Goodnight, sir” as the painting swung shut behind him.

Out of habit, Dan took a cautious sip of his coffee as he walked back across the hall, fully prepared to burn his tongue with the first sip as he normally does at home with his impatience to wait for it to cool. However, the house-elves’ magic had, as usual, brewed it to the perfect temperature, warming him down to his toes without scalding him.

After pulling his wand from his pocket and tapping out the correct rhythm to reenter, Dan strode across the common room and sat back down. He pulled one leg up underneath him in his chair and resettled his notes in his lap, feeling much more awake and determined to finish his work.

\- - -

As hints of morning sunshine made their way across the castle grounds and other Hufflepuffs began to stir, Dan had once again fallen prey to his comfortable surroundings, his head lolling back against his chair and his formerly perfect cup of coffee left cold and abandoned on the table beside him. In his sleep, his fingers twitched lightly where they were still grasping his textbook.

“Umm… Dan?”

“Wha—Huh?”

Dan shot up in his seat as someone nudged his foot, scattering his Potions notes all over the floor. Clutching his chest, Dan looked up to see Tyler staring back at him, arms crossed and hair newly dyed light blue. 

“Merlin on a broom!” Dan exclaimed as he noticed that, judging by how many students were now in the common room, he had yet again fallen asleep without finishing his work.

“What, it’s not _that_ shocking, is it?” Tyler said, running a hand through his now pastel locks. “I was just trying out a new spell. I actually thought it was kind of understated for me...”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Dan reassured. He glanced at his watch and muttered a quick curse. “We have a quiz in Potions in half an hour, and I still haven’t memorized everything!”

As he jumped up from his seat and started gathering up his notes, Dan felt a familiar panic rising in his chest, his heart racing and his breathing going shallow. If he couldn’t even manage to study for a tiny pop quiz, how was ever going to pass his OWL exams? And if he didn’t pass his exams, he would never get a respectable job, and if he couldn’t get a good job, how would he ever make his parents proud and prove he wasn’t just some magic freak, or space nerd, or—

“Dan, are you okay?”

Although Dan could sense him standing right next to him, Tyler’s voice sounded miles away. The erratic rhythm of his own heart was pounding too loudly in his ears, and it took far too much strength to simply shake his head in response. 

\- - -

The next thing Dan knew, he was being rushed upstairs to the hospital wing, accompanied by his head of house and in the throes of a full-blown panic attack.

“Bring him here, quickly,” Madam Pomfrey instructed, indicating toward a seat as she started rummaging through various potion bottles. Dan vaguely registered himself being pushed down onto a bed as she found the potion she was looking for and hurried over to him.

“Alright, bottoms up, Howell,” the nurse said, tipping the bottle against his lips and encouraging him to drink. Dan complied, staring back at her reassuring expression with wide eyes before suddenly feeling a tingling sensation spreading throughout his veins. He felt the panic slowly ebbing away, his heartbeat settling and his lungs refilling at a normal rate. 

“There now, that’s better, isn’t it?” Madam Pomfrey smiled, sitting the empty vial on the bedside.

“What—what was that?” Dan croaked out, finally finding his voice again.

“A Calming Draught. One of my last bottles, too,” she tutted, examining her stock of potions. “You’re the tenth fifth year to need one this week, what with exams coming up.”

Dan sighed, leaning back against the pillows and closing his eyes to shield out the bright morning light streaming in. At least this time he knew he wasn’t the only one panicking.

\- - -

Against his strong desires otherwise, Madam Pomfrey insisted that Dan spend the better part of the day relaxing in the hospital wing rather than going to class, fearing that returning too quickly might set him off on another panic attack. Dan was finally released just before dinner under strict instructions that he take it easy for the next few days.

The universe, however, did not seem to see fit to follow those care instructions, as no sooner had Dan turned the corner into the Entrance Hall than he ran into the three people he least wanted to see.

PJ and Phil were doubled over laughing at something Chris had said when the four boys all made eye contact across the hall. The smiles quickly dropped off of the older three’s faces.

“Well, if it isn’t our former friend,” Chris growled. “Heard you got carted off to the hospital this morning. Nothing _too_ serious, I hope.”

Dan stiffened, overcome with the urge to run back for another Calming Draught, but determined to stand his ground in front of the others.

“Leave it, Chris,” Phil muttered, elbowing the Gryffindor lightly. “It’s not worth it.”

Dan’s eyes narrowed. He somehow couldn’t resist the opportunity to drive a further wedge between himself and Phil, no matter how much his heart protested. “Yeah, Chris. _I’m_ not _worth_ it.”

Phil stared back in disbelief for a moment. “That’s not what I said, and you know it.”

“You might as well have,” Dan scoffed, pushing past the older three boys and heading toward his common room. “Besides, you wouldn’t have been wrong.”

“Dan, wait—”

To spare himself the pain of hearing whatever Phil wanted to say to him, Dan took off across the Entrance Hall, his long gait finally coming in handy.

And if he spent the rest of the night crying into his pillow over the events of the day? Well, Phil didn’t need to know.

\- - -

A brisk breeze swept around the castle, ruffling Dan’s hair slightly as he leaned forward to wrap his arms around his legs and rest his chin against his knees. Dan smiled a bit at the sights and sounds of spring slowly bringing the grounds back to life, apparent even from the top of the Astronomy Tower. Even the Whomping Willow seemed to be enjoying the changes, twisting its branches and swaying slightly with the wind.

Looking out at the nearly cloudless and brightly twinkling night sky, Dan let out a sigh of content. After an incredibly long week of studying which culminated in his _delightful_ visit to the Hospital Wing the day before, this was exactly what he had needed. As his eyes travelled across the field of stars above him, easily picking out constellations, he felt almost rejuvenated. For this brief moment, he wasn’t the stressed out student cramming for exams, or the friendless loner who had made a mess of everything around him; he was simply a tiny spec on a tiny planet staring out across millions of lightyears, basking in the celestial wonders of the universe.

When he finally found himself unable to fight off his yawns any longer, Dan begrudgingly pulled his eyes away from the swirling galaxies above him and rose from the stone floor. He started making his way back to his common room, smiling to himself and taking the stairs two at a time. With his mind still floating somewhere out in space, he didn’t quite hear the other set of footsteps coming around the corner until it was too late and he was colliding with their owner, knocking them both to the ground.

“I’m so, so sorry!” Dan stammered as he scrambled back up to his feet. “That was all my fault, I wasn’t watching where I was…going…”

As Dan was finishing up his apology, he looked up to see just who he had knocked over. The rest of his words caught in his throat as he saw Phil picking himself up off the corridor floor, brushing dust from his robes before meeting Dan’s shocked expression.

“Dan? What are you doing out of bed? It’s nearly midnight.”

Dan swallowed thickly, still at a loss for words. His eyes lingered on the shining prefect badge on Phil’s robes to avoid the older boy’s gaze. 

When Dan gave him no answer, Phil glanced behind him to see the direction he had just come from. “Astronomy Tower?” Phil asked, the corner of his mouth twitching up the tiniest bit.

Dan nodded, finally finding his voice. “So, when do I need to show up for detention?”

Phil’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m out of bed after curfew,” Dan said, head cocked slightly to the side in confusion. “Aren’t you going to punish me?”

“Dan, I’m not going to give you detention.”

“Why not? If you caught some other random fifth year up here, wouldn’t you give them one?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“So then why am I any different?”

“Because—I don’t know. Because you’re you.”

Dan sighed, running a hand through his fringe and distractedly pushing it up into an unruly quiff. “You can’t just give me special treatment, Phil. We aren’t _friends_ anymore. We haven’t been in weeks.”

Phil’s eyes were glued on Dan’s shoes. “I’m not giving you detention, Dan.”

“What, exactly, do I have to do to warrant a detention from you, then?” Dan felt his blood starting to boil a bit at Phil’s stubbornness. He gripped his wand tightly, knuckles white. “Would a Tickling Charm do it?”

Phil’s eyes widened considerably behind his glasses. 

“Or would it take something more serious?” Dan taunted as he began twirling his wand between his fingers casually. “A jynx, maybe?”

“Stop messing around, Dan.”

“What, you think I wouldn’t do it?”

“No, I _know_ you wouldn’t do it,” Phil answered calmly. “Attacking a prefect, _especially_ one who isn’t going to fight back, could be grounds for expulsion. You and I both know you wouldn’t risk that.”

Dan glared across the corridor as he pocketed his wand, annoyed that Phil had called his bluff. 

“Why can’t you just accept that we aren’t friends anymore?”

“Because I have trouble accepting things without any actual _proof_ ,” Phil replied between gritted teeth. “I _am_ a Ravenclaw, after all.”

“Oh, here we go again!” Dan said, throwing his hands in the air and turning in a small circle out of frustration. “You and your precious bloody house system.”

“Why are you so against it?” Phil asked, watching as Dan paced back and forth. “The system works.”

“No, it doesn’t!” Dan argued, stopping in his tracks and turning back to face Phil. “All it does is separate us and turn us against each other based on arbitrary and stereotypical traits! Why can’t you _see_ that?”

Rather than answering, Phil stared determinedly at the small patch of corridor floor between them, his face virtually expressionless. 

Dan could feel the tension between them practically crawling up the walls, and he just had to break the heavy silence. 

“Why were you so repulsed when I said you could have been in Hufflepuff?” he asked quietly.

Phil didn’t meet his eyes, but Dan saw the older boy’s jaw twitch slightly. 

Dan took a shallow breath. “Would it really have been _that_ horrible to be in my house?”

Phil finally met his gaze, eyes blazing harshly enough that Dan took a step back.

“I think it’s well past time for you to get back to bed, _Howell_.”

“Alright, _Lester_ ,” Dan growled in return. “See you never.”

Dan’s hands curled into fists at his sides as he pushed past Phil to start back down the corridor. His anger got the better of him, though, and he couldn’t resist turning around again.

“Oh, and Lester?”

Phil turned back to face him, blue eyes misting slightly. Seeing the hurt on the older boy’s face, Dan bit back the insult he had prepared.

“I—You know what? Nevermind, it’s not worth the effort,” Dan covered before ducking around a corner and sprinting down the stairs. 

\- - -

“Dan!”

Recognizing Chris’ slightly northern accent echoing up the corridor after him, Dan hitched his bag further up on his shoulder and picked up his pace a little.

“Dan, wait up! Hey, you, get out of my way!”

Dan reluctantly turned to see Chris shoving his way through a group of disgruntled third years, leaving him out of breath by the time he finally caught up to Dan’s long strides.

“What do you want, Chris?” Dan grumbled, trying to keep up his angry façade.

“Look, I know Phil got to keep me and Peej in the divorce and everything,” Chris managed to huff out, bent over with hands on his thighs , “but you need to come with me. Like, right now.”

Dan snorted, rolling his eyes. “Not bloody likely.”

“But Phil needs you!”

“Even less likely.” Dan turned away, starting back down the corridor.

“Dan, he got hurt!”

Dan froze mid-step, hoping beyond all hopes that he had somehow misheard Chris. The very thought of Phil in pain brought the taste of bile to his mouth.

“He Splinched himself during the Apparition test,” Chris continued when he knew he had Dan’s attention. “He’s in the hospital wing. Dan, it’s really serious.”

Dan turned to look at the Gryffindor, feeling all of the blood drain out of his face.

“Now, I know you guys are still fighting, but I really think he needs you right—“

But Dan never heard the rest of what Chris had to say to him. In fact, looking back later on, he would never actually remember what happened over the next ten minutes. If not for the fact that he didn’t know how yet, he would have sworn that he had somehow broken the rules and Disapparated inside Hogwarts, as one moment he was talking to Chris, and seemingly the next, he was pushing open the doors to the hospital wing, wishing on every star he had ever seen through his telescope that his best friend was okay.


	20. Chapter 20

Dan jerked awake for what must have been the fifth time in the last few hours, slightly disoriented as he looked around the room that had gotten much darker since he had arrived earlier in the day. He stretched his long limbs out in front of him, cramped from the awkward position he had been sleeping in on the uncomfortable chair, and rubbed at his eyes.

He couldn’t seem to shake the sense of panic from the nightmare that had woken him up. In his dream, he had been running down a seemingly endless series of empty corridors. The only sounds had been his own heavy breathing from the sudden physical exertion and Phil, crying out in pain. The pitiful noise echoed down the hallways and assaulted Dan’s ears. Every time he turned a corner, he had expected to find Phil lying there in agony, but each time he was met with only another empty corridor. 

When he was finally able to pull himself from the nightmare, Dan felt relieved to be able to look only a few feet to his left and see Phil sleeping soundly, curled up in the itchy-looking hospital bed sheets and blissfully unaware of the panic he had caused Dan all evening.

Thanks to Chris, Dan had arrived at the hospital wing only minutes after Phil had been admitted. He had thrown open the doors to see a large group of professors crowding around an unconscious Phil as Madam Pomfrey tended to his wounds. As Dan got closer, he could see an unsettling amount of blood pouring out of Phil’s side.

“Phil! Oh my God!” Dan shouted, pushing through the huddle of adults to get near his friend.

“Howell, what in Merlin’s name are you doing in here?” Professor McGonagall exclaimed as Dan elbowed past her.

“My _best friend_ is lying here practically dying! Where else would I be?” Dan replied curtly, watching with wide eyes as Madam Pomfrey applied a potion to the gaping wound just below Phil’s ribcage, the bleeding halting as his skin started to join back together.

Several professors had tried to gently coax Dan out of the room while Phil was tended to, but he had stubbornly refused to leave his friend’s side. Even when Madam Pomfrey finished healing the spot that had been Splinched and assured him that Phil would be fine after a good night’s sleep, Dan had stayed put in the chair next to the bed, watching the older boy warily as if things could go wrong again at any moment.

Dan glanced around the now dark hospital wing, curtains drawn across the high windows to block out the bright moonlight and allow patients to get some sleep. A few other students had been in and out of the hospital for various injuries and maladies throughout the evening, but Phil was the only one required to stay overnight. The lone flickering lamp lit next to Phil’s bed cast long shadows across the empty room.

As Dan was staring at one such shadow on the floor near his feet, trying to process everything that had happened over the last few hours, he suddenly noticed Phil stirring out of the corner of his eye.

“Dan? What—where are we?” Phil asked in a small, uncertain voice, attempting to sit up and wincing a little.

“In the hospital wing,” Dan replied, reaching over to gently push Phil’s shoulders back down. “Don’t try to sit up, you might hurt yourself again.”

Phil complied, eyes wide. “What happened? The last thing I remember is going into the Apparition exam and being scared to death that I was gonna Splinch myself or something.”

Dan smiled back glumly as comprehension dawned on Phil’s face. He groaned and pulled his blankets up over his head.

“I take it I failed my exam, then?” a muffled Phil said from underneath his hiding spot.

Dan laughed, relieved to see Phil acting like himself after the ordeal he had been through. “I would say that’s a strong probability, yes.”

Phil pulled the covers down a smidge until his eyes were visible, the blue popping out vividly against the starch white of the sheets. “How bad was it?”

Dan shrugged, pulling one leg up underneath him in the chair. “I mean, there was a lot of blood, but I guess it could have been worse. Madam Pomfrey fixed you up, said you’re gonna be fine.”

Phil’s eyes went comically wide at the mention of blood, his face almost matching the sheets covering his nose. Dan chuckled; he was just glad he could laugh over the whole thing now. The situation wasn’t _quite_ so funny a few hours ago. 

Phil sighed, freeing his face completely from the blankets and sinking further back against his pillow. “This is a nightmare.”

“Hey, at least you got a good story out of it,” Dan suggested. “And it’ll definitely help out with your punk image.”

When Phil raised a perplexed eyebrow, Dan gestured to his side. Phil lifted the edge of his pajama shirt and pulled up the bandage to reveal a small swirling scar just below his ribcage.

“Huh,” Phil said, running a finger over the fresh scar, “I guess that is kind of cool.” 

“ _Way_ too cool of a scar for someone as dorky as you,” Dan teased, earning him an eye roll. Dan’s heart clenched; he hadn’t realized just how much he missed something as mundane as having Phil roll his eyes at him.

“I knew I wasn’t ready for that exam,” Phil said, staring up at the ceiling. “I was so nervous, and my hands were shaking so hard I thought I was gonna drop my wand, and I just kept thinking, _God, I wish I could talk to Dan._ ”

“You—you did?” Dan said quietly, eyes trained on his own lap, not daring to look up.

“Yeah,” Phil admitted. “You always know what to say to calm me down when I’m worrying too much about something.”

Dan chewed on his bottom lip, finally looking up to meet Phil’s eyes only to see them laced with confusion.

“Dan, what are you even doing here?” Phil asked, his voice a bit unsteady. “Aren’t you still mad at me?”

Dan let out a deep breath, watching his own fingers where they were fidgeting on the arm of his chair. “You were hurt,” he finally said, hoping that even though he was just stating an obvious fact, Phil would understand the deeper meaning behind it.

“Dan, I’m so sorry,” Phil sighed, gesticulating a little too wildly for someone who had just been through a major trauma and surprising the younger boy. “This whole thing was my fault!”

“Phil, it wasn’t your fault you got Splinched, it could’ve happened to anyone.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

Brown eyes met blue once again, and Dan fought to keep his emotions off his face.

“Dan, I’m so, so sorry,” Phil repeated.

“Phil, don’t,” Dan muttered, already feeling tears prickling.

“No, Dan, let me finish,” Phil insisted. “I never, _ever_ meant to make you feel less than. I’m sorry if I made you feel inferior for being Muggleborn, or made you feel bad for being in Hufflepuff.”

“I mean, you certainly weren’t the first,” Dan admitted. “It’s just… After the way we met, I never would have expected you to be so… house-ist.”

“House-ist?” Phil frowned back him, brow furrowed.

“Yeah, like racist? Sexist? House-ist.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“Umm, weren’t you in the middle of apologizing?”

Phil couldn’t help but laugh a little, his tongue poking out between his teeth for a moment before he hid his smile behind his hand. The corner of Dan’s own mouth lifted in return: it had been _way_ too long since he had been the one to cause that smile to appear on Phil’s face.

Far too soon, though, the glint disappeared from Phil’s eyes as he took a deep breath, staring up at the high ceiling above them again. “Can I tell you something kind of major?”

“Umm, yeah, I guess?”

Phil sat up suddenly, his face a mix of difficult to read emotions. “Seriously, Dan, this is huge. I’ve never told anyone this, not even Chris or Peej.”

Dan swallowed thickly, not sure where this was going. “You can tell me anything, Phil, you know that.”

A tense silence settled over them as Phil pulled his lip ring in and out of his mouth with his teeth, trying to work up to saying something. He suddenly reached down, pulling the blankets back up over his head before mumbling something incomprehensible.

“I didn’t quite catch that,” Dan laughed, poking Phil’s non-bandaged side. “Maybe say it again, this time _without_ the blanket shield?”

Phil begrudgingly pulled the blankets away, looking Dan dead in the eyes. 

“TheSortingHatwantedtoputmeinHufflepuff!” he rushed out in one short breath.

“Wait—what?”

“Please don’t make me say it again,” Phil groaned, a slight blush spreading across his face.

“No, no, I heard what you said. I’m just trying to process it, I guess,” Dan replied, rising from his seat and moving to sit on the edge of Phil’s bed. “If the hat wanted you in Hufflepuff, why are you in Ravenclaw?”

Phil pulled his long legs up into a crisscross position, leaning back against his pillows. “Because I argued back at the hat so much in my head, I thought I was gonna have an aneurysm right there on that stupid little stool.”

“But you would have been brilliant in Hufflepuff! Why were you so dead set against it?”

“Because my brother pushed me in the dirt.”

Dan stared back at him, eyes narrowed a bit. “…okay, I’m gonna need you to draw me a quick line between those two points because right now it’s kind of like Phil, conversation, TANGENT.”

Phil giggled at Dan’s accompanying hand motion before drawing in another deep breath. “Well, for as far back as anyone can remember, practically my entire family has been in Ravenclaw,” he began. “There are a couple of Gryffindors scattered around here and there, mostly by marriage, but you get the picture.”

Dan nodded, pulling his legs up underneath him and settling in for what seemed like a long story.

“When we were growing up, my parents always told my brother and I _all_ about their time at Hogwarts,” Phil continued, “about hours spent studying in Ravenclaw Tower, and about how they met and fell in love in the library when they were both reaching for the same book. And they have some _serious_ house pride. I mean, heck, half our house is decorated in Ravenclaw colors!”

Dan grimaced involuntarily, imagining a home covered in Ravenclaw paraphernalia, a kitchen full of fine china plates with painted eagles and a bathroom closet jam-packed with blue and bronze towels. “Really?”

Phil nodded. “Honestly, I think my dad is just trying to relive his glory days as a seeker to make up for his boring Ministry job.”

Dan smiled. For some reason, the idea of someone directly related to Phil actually being coordinated enough to play Quidditch seemed just short of a miracle.

“Anyways, my brother and I were just always sort of expected to get sorted into Ravenclaw, and when my brother started Hogwarts, he was,” Phil said. “He would come home on breaks and sound just like Mum and Dad, going _on_ and _on_ about how great it was to be in Ravenclaw.”

“Your parents must have been proud,” Dan said, sensing he had an idea where this story was headed.

“Yeah, they were. But that was also when my brother started to notice that I wasn’t _quite_ as ‘bronze and blue, through and through’ as the rest of our family.” Phil frowned at the memory, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, I was never happy just sitting in the house reading about the world like they all were. I wanted to be out _in_ it. I mean, I practically lived in our garden, dirt always under my fingernails. Mum used to joke that the plants were going to shrivel up if I kept hitting them with so many of my personal sunbeams.”

Dan couldn’t keep himself from smiling, in spite of Phil’s frown. “It’s true, you do pretty much radiate them.”

“Not the point,” Phil said, prompting Dan to stifle his laughter. “Anyways, after being at Hogwarts for a while, my brother realized that I was almost certainly going to be sorted into Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw, and he absolutely _tormented_ me about it. Called me ‘HufflePhil’ for months. I _hated_ it. I mean, what little kid wants to be constantly reminded about how much they don’t fit in with their own family?”

Dan snorted. “I definitely know that feeling.” His thoughts flashed back to his ten-year-old self, trying to explain to his mum that he somehow broke her one-of-a-kind teapot with his _mind_. “Maybe your brother would have been better suited for Slytherin.”

Phil raised an eyebrow. “ _Now_ who’s being house-ist?” 

Dan laughed, raising his hands in mock defense. 

“Anyway, from then on out,” Phil continued, “I started doing whatever I could to be more like a Ravenclaw. Read every book I could get my hands on, memorized facts to bring up at the dinner table to impress everyone: basically anything to keep from being ‘HufflePhil’ forever.

“When I finally got my letter and set off for Hogwarts, I was terrified. I practically sweat through my robes while I waited for my name to get called. Then to have the Sorting Hat tell me that I was pretty much a perfect fit for Hufflepuff, after all of that work? I freaked out! I was basically screaming at the hat in my head, _begging_ it to let me be in the same house as the rest of my family, I would do _anything_. So when it called out Ravenclaw and I saw the look of pure shock on my brother’s face from where he was sitting with the older kids…I can’t lie, it felt _really_ good.”

“Wow,” Dan said after a few moments. “So I guess that’s why you got so upset when I said you’d be a good Hufflepuff?”

Phil scrunched his nose up in reply. “Yeah. Sorry about that, by the way.”

“Is that why you got this, too? To fight off your precious cinnamon roll image?” Dan reached across the bed to poke the dragon curling around Phil’s neck, startling it to life before Phil lightly smacked his hand away, laughing a little. 

“Yeah, I guess that was part of it,” Phil admitted, staring at his lap, fingers subconsciously tugging at his lip ring.

“You know, being a Hufflepuff at heart is nothing to be ashamed of,” Dan said.

Phil looked back up. “No?”

Dan smiled. “Nope. It means you’re loyal. A good friend. Warm, welcoming. Accepting. Sounds a whole lot like someone I know.”

The corner of Phil’s mouth lifted a bit. “Did the Sorting Hat _really_ let you choose any house you wanted?”

“Yup. It actually got kind of frustrated with me, said it wasn’t having another hatstall on its record and basically just told me to pick because I’d do well anywhere I went.”

“And you really picked Hufflepuff just because you knew they would accept you for you?”

Dan frowned, scratching at the back of his neck. “Well, in the spirit of honesty… I actually didn’t know that much about any of the houses when I first got here.”

Phil stared back at him, mouth slightly agape. “So then why did you pick _that_ one?”

Dan shrugged. “It matched my mostly-black aesthetic?”

Phil rolled his eyes, nudging Dan’s shoulder at his ridiculousness, and Dan laughed in return.

“But once I got there,” Dan continued, “I definitely knew I had made the right choice.”

A comfortable silence settled over them for a moment, each boy thinking about what the other had just shared. Eventually, Phil smiled across the bed at Dan, eyes crinkling a little.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Dan asked, shifting to cross his legs in front of him, leaning back on his hands.

Phil stared at his knee beneath the covers. “For coming when you heard I got hurt, even though you hate me.”

“I could never _hate_ you, you spork.”

Phil’s gaze suddenly shot back up to meet Dan’s. “Then why did you stay away for so long?”

“I…I thought you were better off without me always messing up your life,” Dan admitted somewhat guiltily.

“I mean. Clearly not.” Phil gestured around the hospital wing, and Dan snickered a little. “What in Merlin’s name made you think I would be better without you?”

“Probably at least partially my horrendously self-deprecating nature.” Dan shrugged. “But I think it was mostly seeing how out of place that sad expression on your face was and knowing I helped put it there.”

Phil stared back at him for a moment before shaking his head and smiling. “You have so much more crazy hiding under the surface than anyone knows, don’t you?”

“It’s true what they say, I guess. Ogres do have layers.”

Phil’s brow furrowed, head tilting to one side. “I’ve literally _never_ heard anyone say that. Is that in one of our textbooks?”

Dan snorted involuntarily. “No, it’s from—You know what? Nevermind.”

Silence filled the room for a moment, neither sure what to say next.

“But really, thanks for coming,” Phil finally said. 

“What can I say? I guess I’m just Phil trash number one.” 

“It was very… _Hufflepuff_ of you.”

Dan brought a hand to his chest dramatically. “ _Philip Lester_ , did you just use Hufflepuff as a positive adjective for the first time in your life?”

“Maybe I did. Fight me.”

“Seeing as you had a gaping hole in your abdomen a few hours ago, I don’t think that would be too much of a challenge.”

“Your mum’s a challenge.”

Dan stared back at his best friend, at a loss for words for a second. “…what does that even _mean_?”

Phil covered his mouth with his hand, laughing into his pajama sleeve. “I have _no_ idea.”


	21. Chapter 21

“Well, someone certainly is popular.”

Phil cautiously peeked one eye open—not wanting to give away that he was only pretending to sleep—to see Dan looming over his hospital bed, arms crossed and a smile plastered to his face. 

“Dan!” Phil exclaimed, pushing back the covers and sitting up. “Thank goodness it’s you!”

“Missed me that much, eh?” Dan chuckled. He was secretly thrilled to see Phil in such high spirits after spending the day alone in the hospital wing, though, as Madam Pomfrey had unceremoniously kicked Dan out early that morning, insisting that Phil would be fine and Dan shouldn’t be missing classes so close to his exams. 

“Ha ha,” Phil said flatly, shoving aside the mountain of sweets at the foot of his bed to give Dan a place to sit. “No, it’s been like a revolving door of people coming to visit me all day! I didn’t even really know half of them, it’s been terrible.”

“Oh, yeah, it must be truly _awful_ to have so many people like you,” Dan replied with a smirk, plopping down on the edge of the bed and helping himself to a Chocolate Frog.

“Bugger off, Dan,” Phil laughed, nudging Dan’s side with his blanketed toes. 

“So,” Dan said, swallowing a mouthful of chocolate, “has Warden Pomfrey mentioned when your sentence is up, or am I gonna have to spring you?”

Phil rolled his eyes, reaching for a sweet of his own and wincing slightly at the movement. “I’m free to go tomorrow morning, so long as I take it easy for a few days.”

“Damn, there go my plans for celebrating your release with underground Hippogriff wrestling,” Dan sighed, breaking off another piece of chocolate. 

Phil snorted before quickly covering his mouth with his hand. “Dan, stop it! You’re gonna make Bertie Botts come out of my nose!”

As the pair snickered, they heard the hospital door swing open and footsteps click across the floor. They looked up to see PJ heading toward them, his face partially obscured by the stack of books hovering in front of him. 

“Hey, Phil!” he said when he got closer, the books threatening to topple as he haphazardly waved his wand to sit them down on the bedside table. “I brought you your…”

PJ hesitated and forgot to finish his sentence as he straightened up and made eye contact with Dan, who smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave from where he was perched at the end of Phil’s bed. 

“Oh, Dan. You’re actually here?” PJ said, head tilted and eyes slightly narrowed.

Dan gulped and nodded, not quite sure how to gauge the older boy’s reaction to his presence. After over a month of driving wedges into all of his friendships, it was entirely possible that PJ could be holding onto a grudge.

Seeming to come to the same conclusion, Phil decided to break the silence hovering around his bedside. “Peej, we made up last night! Isn’t that great?” he said encouragingly, eyes bright.

PJ glanced back and forth between the other two boys a few times, brow furrowed. Dan drew in a shallow breath, expecting the worst, when a huge smile suddenly broke out across PJ’s face.

“You’re serious?” PJ beamed, curls bouncing wildly as he rocked back and forth on his toes. “You guys are really friends again?”

When Dan and Phil both nodded in return, PJ did a small spin before collapsing onto the bed between them. “It’s a Christmas miracle!” he exclaimed, lying on his back and extending his arms out in front of him.

“Peej, you dork, it’s April,” Dan laughed, nudging PJ’s side with his knee. 

PJ turned his head where it rested against the mattress to look in Dan’s direction. “Party pooper. Can’t you just let me be excited?”

“Well, I would,” Dan said, staring down at PJ with one eyebrow raised and a smirk, “but for some reason, you seem almost _suspiciously_ more excited than even Phil and I are about our reconciliation.” 

A light blush sprung to PJ’s cheeks as he bit down on his index finger and winced guiltily. “I mean, I _am_ ecstatic to see you guys talking again. The last month or so really sucked. But I might also have an ulterior motive…”

“Peej?” Phil said, crossing his arms over his chest.

PJ sheepishly smiled back at them. “You guys making up may or may not have won me a bet with Chris.”

“PJ!” Phil exclaimed, smacking the other Ravenclaw’s shoulder. “You two were betting against us?”

“Not _against_ you, never!” PJ said, sitting up, eyes wide. “We always knew you would patch things up eventually, we were only betting on _when_.”

“Unbelievable,” Phil replied, shaking his head, although his mouth twitched up into a smirk.

“Just wait ‘til Chris gets here after Quidditch practice and finds out.” PJ smiled maliciously, rubbing his hands together. “He said you wouldn’t make up at least until after exams, he’s gonna be pissed that he lost.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you say you had an actual _reason_ for stopping by, PJ?”

“Oh! Right!” PJ said, reaching for the stack of books he came in with. “Phil, I brought you all of the work you missed while you were stuck in here today. You’re probably _dying_ to get caught up, I know I would be.”

“Actually,” Phil said, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt, “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

The smile slipped off of PJ’s face. “Wait. What?”

Phil shrugged. “I don’t know, I just have more on my mind than homework.”

“Since when?” PJ jumped to his feet, staring at Phil incredulously. 

Phil chewed his bottom lip, looking toward the end of the bed for Dan’s reassurance. Dan smiled and nodded, urging him on.

“Well. Since always, I guess,” Phil said, letting out a deep breath as he turned back to PJ. “I, umm… I’ve _sort of_ been faking it all this time. I actually kind of hate studying. God, it’s just so... _boring!_ ”

“But...but you’re in Ravenclaw!” PJ stammered. “We’re supposed to love studying!”

“No, actually, I think you’re supposed to love _learning_ ,” Dan interjected.

“Exactly!” Phil said, gesticulating wildly. “Who ever said all learning had to come from books and classrooms, anyway? I would much rather be learning out _in_ the world. You know, digging my fingers through the soil in the greenhouse, or lying in the grass and picking out constellations in the sky!”

Phil shot a small smile in Dan’s direction, and Dan positively beamed back at him.

When the pair glanced back at PJ, though, the look on his face suggested that his whole understanding of the world was crumbling around him.

“I… Phil Lester _hates_ studying?” he stammered. “I just… I can’t…”

“Uh oh, I know _that_ look,” Dan laughed. “Word of advice, Peej: go ahead and sit down on the floor now. That way you won’t have as far to fall when the existential crisis hits.”

That earned the younger boy a glare from PJ, but a cackle from Phil, who then clutched at his injured side.

“Dan, I told you to stop making me laugh!” Phil gasped between giggles and winces.

The boys exchanged glances for a moment, all three bursting out in laughter again just as the hospital door flew open, revealing Chris in his practice robes. Seeing the smiles plastered on the other boys’ faces, he frowned back at them. 

“Damn, they made up, didn’t they?” he grumbled, although Dan noted his disappointment didn’t seem all that convincing. PJ answered with a smirk and a nod.

As Chris fished through the pockets of his robes for a few Galleons and slapped them begrudgingly into PJ’s outstretched palm, Phil looked back over at Dan and smiled, eyes crinkling and tongue just barely poking between his teeth, and Dan briefly wondered how he ever made it through the last month alone.

 

\- - -

 

“There’s _no_ way that’s true.”

“It is, I swear! When have I ever lied to you?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, or shall I make you an actual list?”

Dan smiled to himself as he made his way across the Great Hall, catching snippets of an apparent argument between Chris and PJ from their seats at the Gryffindor table. Although a few days had passed since their reconciliation, he still couldn’t quite believe how normal it already felt to sink down onto the bench across from them once again.

“Daniel, old chap! Settle a disagreement for us?” Chris said, turning his attention to the younger boy who was helping himself to a piece of bacon. “PJ here claims that I can get rid of my cold completely with what _sounds_ like a totally made up Muggle cure.”

Dan raised his eyebrows, chewing slowly as he looked to PJ for more context.

“Dan, please tell him I’m not lying,” PJ said, silently urging Dan with his eyes to play along. “The old Muggle saying is, ‘A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, and a spoonful of _cinnamon_ makes the common cold frown!’”

“See? That _has_ to be totally fake!” Chris exclaimed, dropping his spoon back into his oatmeal. 

“Nah, mate, he’s telling the truth,” Dan replied casually, deciding to go along with it. After all, it was a Saturday morning: his only other plan for the day was a date with his textbooks. “Anytime I came down with the sniffles when I was little, my mum was _immediately_ reaching up in the spice cabinet.”

PJ’s face lit up maliciously as Dan spoke, although he nodded along and feigned innocence when Chris turned back to look at him.

“So, this is for real?” Chris said, suspiciously eyeing the small container of cinnamon that PJ was nudging toward him on the table. “This will _really_ get rid of my runny nose in time for Quidditch practice this afternoon?”

Rather than reply, Dan reached across the table to hand Chris his own unused spoon, fighting a smile as the Gryffindor warily poured out a generous helping of the spice. 

Chris glanced one last time between the other boys’ faces for any sign of deceit before cautiously putting the spoon in his mouth and attempting to swallow. His eyes went wide with panic for a moment, and then he was coughing and spitting out a slightly orange dust cloud. 

Dan and PJ burst into fits of laughter that were soon echoed by the majority of the Gryffindor table as Chris began frantically scraping his tongue with his fingers.

“Man, that was amazing, you looked like a dragon!” Dan managed to say between giggles, clutching at a stitch in his side. “I wish I had my camera, oh my God!”

“You’re both dead to me,” Chris choked out menacingly with a matching glare as he reached for a glass of water and chugged half of it. “I hope you’ve both enjoyed the great privilege of having me in your lives.”

“I just can’t believe you actually fell for it!” PJ exclaimed, wiping away a tear. “This is even better than the time I convinced you that _Game of Thrones_ was an _actual_ documentary about dragon tamers!”

Dan turned toward PJ, joining his hands together beneath his chin and bowing his head slightly. “Truly inspirational work, senpai.” 

PJ brought a hand to his chest in mock modesty before taking a small bow of his own.

“Oh, you’ve crossed a line this time, Liguori.” Chris folded his arms over his chest. “Just for that, you can now wave bye-bye to your magical guinea pig. Next time you need someone to test one of your stupid new invented spells on, you can just go find some poor unsuspecting first year.”

“Wait, no!” PJ begged, grabbing Chris’ arm and shaking him back and forth, although the Gryffindor refused to budge from his angry stance. “You promised you would try on the sweater again later!”

Dan chuckled, spreading butter on a piece of toast. “Do I even want to know?”

PJ turned back to Dan, eyes shining with excitement. “I’m working on a sweater that changes color with your mood! But I’m having some—er—technical difficulties.”

“Technical difficulties?” Chris snorted, pushing up one of the sleeves of his shirt. “You dyed my skin blue!”

“But I’m pretty sure I’ve fixed that now!”

“Pretty sure you’ve fixed it…” Chris grumbled under his breath just as Phil plopped down in the empty seat next to Dan. “Tell me something, Peej: do you need a _sweater_ to tell what my mood is right now?”

“Ooo, did I miss something good?” Phil asked, glancing back and forth between his friends.

“Nah, just a classic Kendall-Liguori breakfast showdown—Chris! Don’t kick PJ, oh my God!” Dan laughed.

“Oh, so nothing new, then,” Phil said, reaching across the table for the orange juice. 

Dan nodded, smiling at his best friend before turning back to his own plate.

“So, guys,” Phil said suddenly, clapping his hands together once and drawing the attention of the other boys. “I have a little project to take care of today, and I would _really_ appreciate a volunteer…”

“Because _that_ doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Chris muttered in a stage whisper, leading to snickers from Dan and PJ and an eyeroll from Phil.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Phil continued, “I’ve just been out to the greenhouses to check on Winston, and—”

“Wait, Winston?” Dan interrupted, eyes widening. “You mean he’s okay?”

“Of course,” Phil replied, brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Last time I saw him, he looked terrible!” Dan explained. “You said our fight was affecting him, I thought for sure I’d helped kill him!”

“Oh, right!” Phil said, smacking his own forehead lightly, as if he couldn’t believe he had forgotten. “He wasn’t feeding off of my emotions like I had thought! It turned out there was some weird viral infection spreading through all of the plants in the sixth year greenhouse. I actually got to work with Professor Longbottom to figure out the cure, it was amazing!”

Dan stared back in disbelief. “You mean I’ve spent the last month feeling guilty for possibly killing that little monster, and it’s been completely fine the _whole time?_ ”

Phil snorted. “Better than fine, actually! In fact, that’s why I need a volunteer. Winston has grown so much that he’s desperately in need of repotting, and I really can’t handle him all by myself, so…”

The other three boys exchanged panicked glances across the table. As Phil looked away for a moment to take another sip of juice, they raced to press their index fingers to their noses. Dan sighed as PJ and Chris just barely beat him to it, shooting him matching smirks when they realized they had won.

“So,” Phil said, placing his cup back down on the table and looking expectantly at his friends, “who’s in?”

Dan reluctantly raised one hand, immediately dreading his new afternoon plans. He couldn’t fight off his smile, though, when Phil excitedly clapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat.

“Whoa, we’re going right now, are we?” Dan chuckled as Phil grabbed his arm, excitedly pulling him along toward the greenhouses.

As they stepped inside a few minutes later, Dan was immediately assaulted once again by the stifling heat and a wide variety of aromas, the force of which made him take an involuntary step backward for a moment. Phil, however, didn’t even seem to be phased, rushing across the tiny space toward his plant, which was spilling over its ceramic pot, practically bursting at the seams.

"Wow, no wonder you needed to re-pot him,” Dan said, taking another step inside as he adjusted to the climate, “he's enormous!" 

"Yeah,” Phil replied with a smile over his shoulder, “he's definitely gotten pretty _thicc_ lately." 

Dan groaned at the sound of such a terrible Muggle phrase actually coming out of Phil’s mouth, turning and pointing toward the exit. "Alright, Phil, there's the door. Now, leave."

"You mean _leaf_ ," Phil said, biting his lip to keep from laughing too hard at his own joke.

Dan scrubbed a hand down his face in mock annoyance. "Who even _taught_ you that word, anyway?"

"PJ said it was common Muggle slang!" 

"Okay, new rule: don't believe ANYTHING PJ tries to tell you about Muggle life." 

"Deal. Now, let's _dig_ in, shall we?"

Dan froze in his tracks, letting out another groan. “Merlin on a Thestral, this is gonna be a long day, isn’t it?”

 

\- - -

 

“I think that went quite well, don’t you?”

Phil straightened up, pulling off one thick dragonhide glove to wipe at a smattering of dirt that had made its way onto his forehead. He placed his hands on his hips triumphantly before looking around for Dan, finally spotting the younger boy on the greenhouse floor, long limbs folded up in a crumpled heap and a dark glare plastered on his face as he fought to catch his breath.

“What?” Phil asked, removing his other glove and placing them both on the worktable beside the freshly repotted Winston, who was clearly enjoying its new spacious home, vines waving and roots stretching happily in the loosely-packed dirt.

“‘Quite well?’” Dan repeated incredulously, voice pitching impossibly higher on each word. “That was the single most harrowing experience I’ve ever had. I _literally_ saw my life flash before my eyes!”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Phil laughed, extending a hand to help Dan to his feet, “it wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“ _Really_ , Phil? At one point it had me in an actual headlock!” Dan exclaimed, flinging his arms in exasperation at the fact that Phil was refusing to acknowledge how dangerous his plant was. “If you hadn’t noticed in time, it would have killed me!”

“Dan, if he had really wanted to kill you, he would have poisoned you. Compared to what he _could_ have done, he was practically hugging you,” Phil replied casually, as if that should comfort Dan.

As Phil went back to work tending to Winston, Dan glanced down and noticed a huge slash through the front of his t-shirt, fortunately the only aftermath of the plant’s attack. He pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the hole, watching as the fibers slowly wove themselves back together until the shirt looked almost brand new.

When Dan’s clothes were repaired and he looked back up toward his friend, he was amazed to see that the older boy was easily pruning the dangerous plant, its vines parting down the middle to allow him to work safely.

“Wow,” Dan breathed out, taking a small step forward, only to jump back again when one of Winston’s longer vines swung in his direction. “How are you getting it to stay so calm for you?”

Phil shrugged, finishing up and placing his shears down on the table before turning to face the other boy with a humble smile. “I guess he just trusts me? I mean, I _have_ been taking care of him for the better part of a year.”

“Aww, Philly,” Dan said, crossing his arms and fixing him with a smirk, “you look like such a proud little mummy!”

Phil rolled his eyes, shoving Dan’s shoulder lightly. “Hey! I don’t make fun of your passions, do I?”

“No, you just spend the entire time I’m filming looking for ways to distract me and mess up my takes!” Dan quipped back with a smile.

Seeing as he couldn’t deny it, Phil at least had the decency to blush. “I can’t help it sometimes, it’s too tempting!”

“Well,” Dan chuckled, “if you ever start filming your own videos, I’ll be sure to return the favor.” 

Phil didn’t reply, but began packing up all of the supplies he had pulled out to move Winston. Silence settled in the greenhouse as the older boy cleared up and Dan took to watering a few of the surrounding plants, relishing in the opportunity to practice the Aguamenti Spell.

“Actually,” Phil said suddenly, startling Dan and causing him to accidentally water his own shoe, “I’ve been thinking a lot about that.”

“About what?” Dan asked, stashing his wand and shaking water off his foot.

“About filming my own videos.”

Dan froze with his foot still extended out in front of him, not so sure his ears weren't deceiving him. 

"Well,” Phil said, seeming to take his silence as a cue to continue, “maybe not my _own_ videos. At least, not right away. Maybe I could try being in one of yours first, just to give it a shot?”

Dan suddenly felt the need to shake his head in addition to his foot, as he couldn’t quite process what he was hearing. “Phil, are you serious?”

Phil bit his lip, turning back to his plant to avoid looking in Dan’s eyes. “Sorry, it was stupid, we don’t have to do it.”

“No, no, it wasn't stupid!” Dan insisted, practically bounding across the small space between them to grab Phil’s shoulder and spin him around. “ It’s brilliant, actually!”

Phil met his gaze shyly. “You...you think so?”

“Of course I do, you spoon!” Dan laughed, shaking the other boy lightly by both shoulders. “Wasn’t I the one who suggested it in the first place?”

“Yeah,” Phil shrugged. “But that was...before.”

Dan dropped his hands from Phil’s arms and fixed the other boy with a stare, eyebrow raised. “You think one stupid little fight would make me change my mind about something like this?”

“To be fair, it was _actually_ a pretty big fight.”

“And you’re _actually_ a pretty big dork,” Dan grinned, “which is _exactly_ why I want to make video with you.”

Phil blushed a bit. “Well. If you're sure…”

“Phil, you’re my best friend,” Dan said softly. “Of course I’m sure.”

The older boy glanced down at his shoes for a moment, hiding a quickly spreading smile. “Alright, then,” he finally said, meeting Dan’s eyes again. “What are we waiting for?”

 

\- - -

 

Dan smiled and hummed to himself a bit as he stopped to adjust the tripod. He couldn’t believe that he was about to introduce his best friend to his viewers for the first time, especially when only a week ago, they weren't even speaking to each other.

After clicking his camera onto the base, Dan turned to face the bed that the Room of Requirement had once again helpfully provided, only to find it empty. Glancing down, he saw Phil sitting cross-legged on the floor, smiling up at him.

“Whatcha doin’ on the floor, there, Philly?” Dan chuckled.

“I don't know, I just thought it might be fun to sit down here for the video,” Phil replied with a shrug. “You know, mix things up a little bit?”

“But Phiiiiiiillllll….” Dan whined, collapsing onto the pillow the other boy had left on the floor for him. “I already adjusted the tripod to the right height. That's _so_ much work…”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Dan. Wizards?” He lifted his wand and pointed it toward the camera. The knobs on the tripod began to spin on their own, lowering the camera to the correct height.

“Oh, right. Sorry, I’m so used to keeping my YouTube and Hogwarts lives separate, I didn't even think of that,” Dan said as Phil put down his wand. “Speaking of, though, don’t forget: no magic talk in the video. Too many Muggles.”

“But magic is literally my whole life!” Phil groaned. “How am I supposed to just filter that?”

“Phil, if you're gonna be a YouTuber, you're gonna have to learn how to be ambiguous about your life beyond the camera,” Dan answered with a smirk.

“Fine,” Phil sighed in defeat. “But if we can't talk about magic, what kind of video do you have planned for us?”

Dan reached for a piece of paper covered in his own messy handwriting. “Well, I’ve been wanting to do a Q&A for awhile now, so I’ve been collecting questions from viewers for the last few months. I thought it might be fun to answer them together.”

Dan took Phil’s enormous smile as his agreement to the plan, but the younger boy wasn't quite ready to film just yet.

“I do have _one_ condition for you filming with me, though.”

Phil stared back at him, eyebrows furrowed. “And that would be…?”

Dan smiled. “That this has to be the first video uploaded on _your_ new channel.”

Phil blushed, eyes darting to the floor. “You really think people would want to watch _my_ videos?”

Dan shrugged. “I know _I_ would.”

Phil’s eyes met Dan’s again, a shy smile spreading across his face. “Well, I _have_ been thinking up a name for my possible channel…”

“Oh, yeah? And what did you come up with?”

“I was thinking ‘The Amazing Phil,’” Phil replied, holding his hands out in front of him as if framing the title.

Dan involuntarily grimaced, and the smile fell from Phil’s face.

“What’s wrong with it?” Phil asked, a bit defensive. “I mean, it’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s definitely better than ‘danisnotonfire!’”

“I’m sorry!” Dan laughed. “It’s just, it makes you sound like some cheesy magician at a Muggle kid’s birthday party, or something!”

“Damn, I made it too obvious, you figured out my _real_ post-Hogwarts plans.”

Phil giggled as he ducked to avoid the pillow Dan swung in his direction.

“Can we just get a move on, already?” Dan groaned. “At this rate, we’ll still be making this same video 75 years from now when we’re all old and grey.”

“Alright, alright,” Phil said, shifting on his cushion to get more comfortable.

“Thank you,” Dan said, leaning forward to hit the record button. “Now, I thought we could just go ahead and answer the questions in a random order, then edit it together how we want it later.”

“Sounds good,” Phil replied, nodding.

“Are you ready?”

Phil pointed two fingers at Dan, winking. “Hit me with that first Q, Danny boy!”

Dan rolled his eyes, looking down at his list of questions. “Alright, the first question is ‘Why do you always draw cat whiskers on your face?’”

“Wait, wait, wait. _Always_?” Phil laughed, grabbing the paper out of Dan’s hands as if he didn’t quite believe that it was a real question. “Have you _ever_ done that? I thought I’d seen all of your videos, did I miss one?”

Dan chuckled, taking the list back and smoothing out the edges Phil had accidentally crumpled—he had a feeling he would want to keep the paper after they finished filming. 

“I think it was just one of my viewers trying to be ‘so ran-dum!’” Dan said, crossing his eyes and screwing up his face in a goofy grin as he spoke. “But I thought it might be funny if we trolled them back and actually did it in the video.”

“Oh, oh, can I do it?” Phil said, practically vibrating with excitement, wand clutched in his hand. “I’ve been working really hard on human transfiguration lately, I think I could make them look super realistic!”

Dan’s eyes went wide and he quickly extended a hand to encourage Phil to lower his wand arm. “You know, as much _total faith_ as I have in you to not permanently disfigure my face,” he said, reaching into his bag, “maybe it would be easier to just use a Sharpie?”

“Fine, we’ll do it _your_ way,” Phil sighed reluctantly, pocketing his wand before turning to face Dan, who had uncapped the marker. “Do me up, Dan!”

Dan shot Phil an incredulous look, the hand holding the open Sharpie frozen in mid-air. 

“...I mean, whisker me up!” Phil quickly corrected, giggling.

“Well, this got off to a _bad_ start,” Dan said into the camera lens, laughing as he scooted closer to the other boy with the marker.

He carefully covered the end of Phil’s nose in a solid black circle before drawing three straight lines across each cheek. When he was finished, he passed the marker to Phil, who then reciprocated the younger boy’s actions, his tongue poking out in concentration. 

“How do I look?” Dan asked as Phil drew on his last whisker and put the lid back on the pen.

Phil cocked his head to the side, as if critiquing Dan’s face, before a wide smile broke out across his own. “I think you look _purr_ -fect.” 

Dan groaned, bringing a hand to his chest. “That caused me actual, physical pain.”

Phil grinned at the camera, eyes shining proudly as Dan glanced back down at his questions.

“Phil!” he exclaimed suddenly, making the other boy jump. “'What was your first word?'”

“Lumos!” Phil replied brightly.

“Was it really?” Dan said, smiling at the idea of a tiny Phil shouting out such an appropriate first word.

“Yeah, it was my first bit of accidental magic, too,” Phil said. “Apparently it was so powerful, it knocked out the electricity in every Muggle home in Rawtenstall.”

“How adorably on brand,” Dan cooed, earning a light shove from the other boy. 

“But wait!” Dan said, suddenly coming to his senses. “You can’t say that in the video!”

“But it’s the truth!”

“What about the Muggles?”

“Okay, sorry, you’re right. Ask me again!”

“Phil!” Dan repeated. “‘What was your first word?’”

Phil beamed at the camera. “Light!”

Dan shook his head, biting back a laugh as he looked for another question.

“‘Would you eat ham every day for the rest of your life if you got paid a million pounds for every month you lived?’”

Phil frowned back at him, brow furrowed. “Wait, what is that in our money?”

Dan scrunched up his face in concentration, trying to work out the conversion rate. “I don’t know, like, 200,000 Galleons?”

“Per month?”

“Right,” Dan nodded. “So, would you do it?”

“Yes,” Phil answered. “Although, I’d probably die of ham poisoning.”

Dan snickered. “Ham overload?”

“Ham overdose,” Phil replied. 

“Ham.”

“Ham.”

“Ham!”

After a few moments of repeating the word in varying accents and volumes, the two boys eventually devolved into giggles.

“Phil,” Dan finally managed between snorts of laughter, “‘who was your first love?’”

Phil leaned closer to the camera so that most of the shot was of just his face, before replying, “Your mum.”

Dan shot a dirty look at the back of Phil’s head in the background. He briefly considered flipping the older boy off before remembering that the video would be going on Phil’s new channel instead of his own. He sensed that Phil wouldn’t _quite_ feel comfortable with that being in his first ever video, so instead he moved on to the next question.

“‘Do you use an iron to straighten your hair?’”

Phil shook his head, a bit of his fringe shifting with the movement. “Nope, it does this all on its own. It's almost like _magic_.” 

Phil smirked at the camera, eyebrows waggling, prompting an exaggerated eye roll from the other boy. 

“What?” Phil goaded, settling back on his pillow. “I didn’t _actually_ say anything.”

“Damn loophole,” Dan grumbled, pulling his list closer before smiling at the next question. “‘May I stroke your glabella?’”

“Umm,” Phil replied, a bit unsure, “what _exactly_ is a glabella, and why does someone want to stroke it?”

“I think it’s the spot between your eyebrows. Like, right above your nose,” Dan supplied. He glanced at the camera. “I would show you all a diagram on my laptop, but our school’s wifi is...spotty.”

“Ah,” Phil nodded. “That’s much less disturbing than I was expecting. But I still don’t think I want anyone to actually _stroke_ my glabella. How ‘bout you?”

Dan smirked, leaning closer to the camera. “Mmhmm,” he fake moaned, running a finger down his forehead. “So good, stroke that glabella, _mmhmm_ —”

Dan’s little “moment” was cut off suddenly when Phil shoved him, knocking him over on his pillow.

“Dan, stop it, that’s so weird,” Phil giggled. 

“Fine,” Dan said, sitting back up and gesturing toward the camera. “But you know someone out there enjoyed it.”

Phil’s face twisted into a disgusted scowl. “Next question, please.”

“‘If you came with a warning label, what would it say?’” Dan read off the paper.

“‘Danger!’” Phil answered without hesitation. 

Dan snorted. “Yeah, ‘Danger: prone to accidents and may be accompanied by deadly houseplants.’”

“Hey!” Phil protested.

“Okay, last question: ‘Is it fun being a man, now?’” Dan read, ignoring the older boy’s angry expression.

“Oh, yeah,” Phil replied excitedly. “Especially now I can do magic at home!”

“ _Phiiiiillll!_ ”

“I mean...Ahh, what’s a manly Muggle thing?”

Dan thought for a moment. “Cordless hammerdrills?”

“Yeah!” Phil exclaimed. “I feel so manly now that I’ve got my cordless hammerdrill! I can’t wait to...hammerdrill things?”

“You know what my favorite thing to hammerdrill is?” Dan asked, biting back a laugh. 

Phil fixed him with a glare. “Hmm, let me venture a wild guess: my mum?”

Dan grinned back at him, secretly ecstatic that Phi knew him so well.

“Well, I’m glad _you're_ having fun,” Phil pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his nose up in the air.

A smile broke across Dan’s face. “Actually, this is the most fun I’ve _ever_ had,” he said, completely sincere.

Phil looked back over in Dan’s direction, lips turning up in a half smile. 

Before Dan could really process what was happening, Phil was tackling him to the floor, pulling him into a tight hug. 

“Me too,” the older boy squeaked out as he moved off of Dan to lie next to him on the floor. 

The two boys stared up at the ceiling for a content moment before Dan remembered that the camera was still recording and sat back up, Phil quickly following suit.

“What’s wrong?” Phil asked.

“We forgot to say goodbye,” Dan explained.

“Oh, right,” Phil nodded. “How do we do that?”

Dan thought for a moment, finally deciding to hold up both hands in a heart shape in front of his face. “Bye!”

Phil mirrored Dan’s movements and farewell message before laughing and ruffling his own hair. “That was so cheesy.”

Dan laughed as well, leaning forward to turn the camera off. “It was ‘sposed to be cheesy.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first got the idea for this story during a particularly boring shift at work almost a year ago now, I never would have imagined that so many people would have enjoyed it, much less that my very first fic EVER would be nominated for a Phanfiction Award.
> 
> Also, as unbelieveable as it is, this story is very quickly coming to a close. After this, there will be one more actual chapter followed by an epilouge set a few years down the road. However, I'm reluctant to let this fic go, and I'm playing around with a few ideas for one-shots set in this universe, so stay tuned!
> 
> Again, thank you so incredibly much to everyone who has read, given kudos, or left a comment. You seriously have no idea how happy it makes me!

“What sort of noise do you think a griffin would make?”

Dan pried his eyes away from his notes, glancing over to find Phil sitting wrong-side-up in a deep blue armchair, his dark fringe nearly brushing the plush carpet beneath him and his long legs dangling over the chair’s back. Dan had to squint a bit to make out the upside-down title of the well-worn book Phil had his nose buried in, but he soon recognized it as Phil’s personal copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them._

“I have no idea,” Dan said, watching as the older boy wiggled his toes in his mismatched socks—owls and tiny broomsticks—and turned a page. “Aren’t you supposed to be working on your Transfiguration essay?”

“I think it would sound something like this,” Phil continued before letting out a loud squawk. Several other Ravenclaws turned to stare across the common room in their direction, annoyed at the sudden disruption from their studies. 

“ _Every_ animal makes that noise with you,” Dan chuckled, shaking his head as he turned back to his work.

“That’s not true!” Phil insisted as he moved to sit upright, flipping back a few pages before turning the book around to show Dan the entry he was pointing to. “What about the Augurey? It sounds _completely_ different!”

“Yes, I’m sure it does,” Dan placated, attempting to focus. “Now, unlike you, I’m _actually_ trying to study here.”

In his peripheral vision, Dan saw Phil frown and sink back against the armchair, hugging his book to his chest. His lower lip stuck out dramatically in a way that suggested that he _knew_ Dan could still see him. 

Dan sighed, rolling his eyes before turning back around in his seat. “Alright, _fine_. What does an Augurey sound like, Phil?”

Phil smirked knowingly, eyes shining. “It has more of a deep, throbbing, almost mournful cry, which, you know, is kind of weird for a bird. People used to think hearing one meant you were gonna die soon.”

“I’m guessing they were wrong?”

“Oh, yeah. In fact, you could almost say they were _dead_ wrong,” Phil replied, eyebrows waggling. 

Dan groaned at the pun, rubbing his eyes. “I hate you.”

Phil laughed, moving to join Dan at the table. “You do not. In fact, I seem to recall a certain someone referring to themselves as ‘Phil Trash Number One’ just a few weeks ago…”

Dan glared back at the other boy’s taunting expression. 

“Hey, Phil, do me a favor?”

“Hmm?”

“See that window over there? You wanna channel your inner Augurey and jump out of it?”

The corner of Phil’s mouth twitched up into a half smile, although he otherwise ignored Dan’s request and stayed firmly in his chair. “You know, I _have_ always kind of identified with it.”

“With what? The bird?”

Phil nodded. “They can predict when it’s gonna rain! Sound familiar?”

Dan shrugged. “Sounds obnoxious.”

“Hey!” Phil laughed, nudging Dan’s shoulder.

“You know, Phil, as much as I’ve enjoyed our little impromptu Care of Magical Creatures lesson...that’s _not_ actually an O.W.L. that I’m too bothered with,” Dan said, gesturing not so subtly toward the Potions notes spread out haphazardly in front of him.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’ll let you get back to it. You won’t hear another _peep_ out of me!” Phil mimed zipping his lips and smiled. 

However, Dan was only halfway through reviewing the ingredients for a Strengthening Solution when he heard Phil snickering across the table. 

Dan glanced up, one eyebrow cocked. “Phil? You’re peeping again.”

Phil smacked a hand over his mouth. “Sorry!” he said, slightly muffled. “I couldn’t help it!”

“What was so funny?”

“It’s just… The Hufflepuff is diligently studying, and the Ravenclaw is goofing off,” Phil explained, practically bouncing in his seat. “We’re proving your point about the house system not being exact!” 

Dan nodded. “Yes, but you see, Phil, now _neither_ of us are studying…”

Phil’s eyes widened behind his glasses. “Sorry! I’ll be quiet for real this time, I promise,” he relented, reaching for his bag. “Besides, you were right, I really do need to finish my essay.”

Dan nodded in thanks, pulling his notes closer and trying to make sense of his sloppy handwriting.

The two boys worked in silence from their respective sides of the table as the sun made its way around the tower, casting long shadows across the common room. Other Ravenclaws came and went, Phil hummed quietly to himself while he steadily filled up his page of parchment with writing, and Dan’s hair got progressively messier as he ran his fingers through it in frustration.

After a few fruitless hours, Dan leaned back in his chair, roughly pushing back his curling fringe. Glancing across the table and seeing how much progress Phil had made compared to his own, Dan let out a pointedly exasperated sigh, letting his arms fall to his sides and smacking his forehead on the table in front of him.

“I take it studying is going well?” Phil asked without looking up from his essay, quill scratching away furiously.

“I can’t do this, Phil,” Dan murmured against the wood. “I’m too _stupid_.”

“Dan, you’re not stupid. Far from it, in fact.”

Dan turned his head to look over at Phil, his cheek still squished against the smooth mahogany. “No, I really am. I’m going to completely fail my exams, and my parents will be _so_ disappointed in me, and I won’t be able to take the N.E.W.T. classes I need to get a good job, and I’ll have to work at Asda and be that _weirdo_ who lives in his parents’ basement and claims he can do _‘magic,’_ and all the neighbourhood kids will point and laugh and throw rocks at me when I walk by.”

Phil’s eyebrows furrowed in concern as he watched Dan ramble away. “Don’t you think you’re being just a _touch_ overdramatic?”

“But I guess none of it really matters, does it?” Dan continued, ignoring Phil in favor of pushing away from the table and starting to pace. “I mean, what’s the point of doing _anything_ if we have no higher purpose?”

“Here we go again…” Phil mumbled, turning in his seat to watch Dan as he walked back and forth.

“Why should we care about what we do day to day when we’re all just hurtling toward an inevitable death?” Dan’s arms waved frantically as he spoke, lost in his own thoughts. “At the end of the day, it makes absolutely no difference because we’re all meaningless in the eyes of the universe!”

Dan’s body was about halfway to the floor—ready to assume his preferred existential crisis position of lying facedown on the carpet—when Phil flicked his wand and muttered an incantation, preventing Dan from hitting the ground.

“Uh uh, nope,” Phil said, using his wand to carefully raise Dan back up to his feet, “we’re not doing this today.” 

Dan stared back at the other boy blankly, his mind still stuck on black holes and oblivion as he watched Phil hop up from his chair and pocket his wand. 

“Alright, come on,” Phil said, slipping his shoes back on and lightly pushing Dan across the room, leaving their notes and books behind. 

“Where are we going?” Dan asked as Phil steered him out of the common room.

“Don’t worry about it. This way,” Phil replied, letting the door swing shut behind them and starting down the tower stairs, knowing Dan would follow. 

 

\- - -

 

“Phil, this is ridiculous. I need to get back to studying.”

Phil turned to face him from across the Room of Requirement, hands on his hips. “Dan, I already told you, this will _help_ you with your O.W.L.s.”

“But how?” Dan asked, twirling his wand between his fingers. “The Patronus Charm isn’t even part of the Defense practical. I should be practicing things that are actually _on_ my exams, not wasting my time with a spell that I’ll never be able to do.”

Phil crossed his arms over his chest. “You absolutely _can_ do this spell, and when you do, it’ll help you with your exams because it’s going to give you _confidence_.”

Dan snorted, lowering himself down to sit on a stone step and resting his head in his hands, covering his face. After a moment, he sensed Phil sitting down next to him. 

“Dan, I _know_ you can do this,” Phil said softly. “You _can_ cast a Patronus, and you _can_ pass your O.W.L.s, and you can do anything else you set your mind on. You just have to have a little more faith in yourself. Like I do.”

Dan shifted a bit to look Phil in the eyes, a little surprised by the earnest expression on his friend’s face. Dan drew in a deep breath.

“Will you show me how?” he asked, shooting Phil a shaky smile. “One more time?”

Phil beamed back at him, nodding profusely before jumping back up to his feet. He closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly centering himself, before extending his wand in front of him. 

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Just like the first time Dan had seen Phil perform the spell, a jet of silvery-blue light burst forth as the majestic lion took form. Dan watched in awe as the creature circled around Phil lovingly, the older boy laughing when the cat tossed its fluffy mane. 

With the extra warmth and happiness radiating through the room, Dan felt an unexpected surge of confidence swell through his chest and stood up, gripping his wand tightly.

“I think I’m ready to try again.”

Phil looked up from his Patronus, smile stretching from ear to ear. “Yeah? Do you have a stronger memory than last time?”

Dan chewed at his bottom lip, trying to come up with something more powerful than hitting half a million subscribers. When his eyes met Phil’s, a thought occurred to him. 

“It’s not so much _one_ memory as it is a _collection_ of happy moments. Do you think that’s okay?”

Phil shrugged. “Does it feel powerful?”

“Definitely,” Dan chuckled in reply.

“Then I say go for it,” Phil answered. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Dan nodded, breathing in and shutting his eyes to try and focus. Slowly, he raised his wand, bracing himself. 

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Dan kept his eyes clamped shut, not quite ready to see whether he had succeeded or not. However, he quickly realized that he didn’t even have to look, as Phil’s reaction told him everything he needed to know.

“Oh my God, Dan, you did it!” Dan heard Phil shout from across the room. “You made a fully-fledged Patronus!”

“Seriously?” Dan smiled. He felt his nearby Patronus warming him considerably, although he kept his eyes closed for another moment, mostly for his own amusement. “Is it something awesome, like a Grizzly Bear?”

“Umm, well…” Phil stammered.

“Hippogriff?”

“Not exactly?”

“Oh my God,” Dan groaned. “It’s a Shibe, isn’t it? I’m such a meme, I wouldn’t even be surprised.”

“Umm, Dan?” Phil said, voice quivering a bit with what Dan could have sworn sounded like laughter. “I think you should probably just see for yourself.”

Dan cautiously opened one eye to peek at his Patronus, but the other eye quickly followed suit as both went wide in disbelief.

“No way, nope,” he said, shaking his head adamantly. “Nope, not happening. Let’s just hop on board the nopeity-nope train heading on back to Nopesville.”

“Aww, Dan, come on,” Phil said, stifling his laughter behind his hand, “I think he’s kind of cute!”

“Cute?” Dan exclaimed. “Phil, that’s the _derpiest_ damn llama I’ve ever seen!”

“Dan, be nice! You’ll hurt his feelings!”

As they spoke, the shimmering blue llama made its way over to Dan, hooves clomping noiselessly across the stone floor and head cocked to one side as it stared back at him.

“I just don’t understand why _you_ get the majestic king of the beasts, and I get freaking Larry the llama over here,” Dan mumbled, crossing his arms. 

“Aww, look, they like each other!” Phil cooed, moving to stand closer to Dan as they watched the animals chase each other around the Room of Requirement playfully. When they rounded a corner, though, Dan’s llama somehow managed to trip over its own hooves, landing face first and hovering just above the carpet.

“Dan, look, he takes after you,” Phil laughed, “he’s having his first existential crisis!”

Dan couldn’t help but snort at that, and he felt himself coming around as he watched his llama pick itself up and happily trot back in his direction. He reached out a tentative hand as it approached, and when the creature nuzzled at his fingers, Dan felt a content warmth spread through his heart.

“I guess he is kind of cool,” Dan murmured, glancing up to see Phil watching them with a smile.

“What?” Dan asked as his llama faded back into a soft mist and then disappeared entirely.

“You just cast a Patronus Charm,” Phil replied with a smirk.

Dan felt his cheeks go a bit red. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

“How did it feel?”

“It felt...good, I guess.”

Phil crossed his arms over his chest. “Just ‘good?’”

Dan smiled, looking down at the wand still clutched in his left hand. “Alright, fine. It felt _damn_ good.”

“Yeah?” Phil grinned back at him, shoving his hands into his pockets backwards, as he was prone to do.

“You know, I kind of feel like I could do _anything_ right now,” Dan admitted, his limbs practically vibrating with a sudden wave of adrenaline, and he began pacing to try to expel some of the extra energy. “I mean, I could skydive off the Astronomy Tower, or streak across the grounds, or—”

“—or pass your O.W.L.s?” Phil interrupted.

Dan stopped mid-step, turning to look back at the older boy’s knowing expression.

“Well...yeah, actually,” Dan breathed out. In all of the excitement, his pre-exam nerves had somehow completely dissipated just as easily as his Patronus had a few moments earlier. At that realization, Dan quickly closed the small gap between them, pulling his friend in for a tight hug.

“Oh! Hi, there,” Phil laughed, wrapping his own arms around Dan in return.

“Thank you,” Dan said, voice muffled a bit by Phil’s shoulder. “Thank you so, so much.”

Phil chuckled, patting Dan on the back lightly. “Of course, Dan,” he said as they both pulled away, smiling broadly at each other. “Just out of curiosity, though, what memory did you pick this time?”

Warmth spread through Dan’s face again. “I, umm… I just thought about… Well. You.”

Dan kept his eyes glued to the ground as he sputtered out the words, determined to look anywhere but Phil’s face, which had gone just as red as his own.

“You...you thought about _me?_ ” Phil whispered.

Dan nodded, scuffing the toe of his shoe across the floor. “About us, I mean. About this year, and about our friendship, and stuff.”

He couldn't fight the smile the spread across his face at the flashes of memories of robe shops and train rides, of Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade visits, of puffs of breath on cold nights on the Astronomy Tower and warm afternoons in the greenhouses, and of cat whiskers and laughing until their sides ached.

“And that was strong enough?” Phil asked quietly, drawing Dan’s gaze from the ground and back to his bright blue eyes, which were a bit more watery than Dan expected.

“Of course it was,” Dan reassured, smiling hard enough that he could actually feel his dimples popping out. “I mean, other than that little rough patch we had, this past year is the happiest I’ve _ever_ been, without a doubt.”

Dan could have sworn he saw Phil’s chin quiver before the older boy covered it up with a cough. “I… Yeah. Me too.”

“You know,” Dan said with a smirk, “I think there may have been a reason we met that day in Diagon Alley.”

Phil stared back at him open-mouthed for a moment before reaching over and smacking his arm lightly. “Last time _I_ said that, it was all, ‘Oh, I don't _believe_ in predestination, we make our _own_ choices in life.’ When did that change?”

Dan shrugged. “I didn’t have a best friend for the first fifteen years of my life. If I have to give fate a little bit of credit for giving me you, then so be it.”

Phil shook his head at him, but his wide smile told Dan that he wasn’t too put out. “You know, you’re really something else, Dan Howell.”

“Aww, I feel special,” Dan joked.

“You are special,” Phil replied in a much more serious tone, and Dan felt his heart clench just a bit.

The two stared back at each other in a warm, comfortable silence for a few moments before Phil broke it by clearing his throat.

“So, umm,” he said, scratching at the back of his neck, “you think you’re ready to get back to studying now that you’ve got your confidence back on track?”

Dan nodded, following the older boy as he made his way toward the exit. Before he stepped through the door, though, Dan turned and took another look around the room. He smiled to himself, knowing he had just added one more happy memory for the next time he tried to cast his Patronus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, the 2011 branding. But really, it _had_ to be done!


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A month without uploading, she comes back with....a 7,000 word chapter to make up for making you wait a month for an update!
> 
> Seriously, I had no idea it was going to take me that long to finish writing these last two chapters. I think subconciously I was procrastinating because I'm not ready for this fic to be over. 
> 
> There's only one chapter left now, but I've already finished writing it, so definitely stay tuned because it will be up soon!
> 
> Also, a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for this fic in the Phanfic Awards! I tied for second best platonic fic (along with one of my favorite writers, so I might have fangirled just a little...haha). Thank you all!

Dan rubbed his hands slowly up and down his thighs under the table, the smooth fabric of his robes beneath his fingertips the only sensation grounding him in the moment and keeping him from actually rocking back and forth like a little kid. _Achievements in Charming_ was open in front of him, but the words seemed to swim before his eyes, nothing quite sticking in his mind.

He was vaguely aware of someone nearby speaking, but the words didn’t really register until a hand was shaking his shoulder, pulling him from his haze. He glanced to his right to see Phil staring back at him, eyes laced with concern.

“Dan, I said you need to stop that,” Phil said, grabbing Dan’s hands with his own and gently removing them from his legs, “you’re going to wear a hole in your robes.”

Dan nodded numbly, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth as he pushed his barely-touched breakfast aside and turned back to his book.

“Mate, I hate to break it to you,” Chris called from across the table where he sat with PJ, scattering muffin crumbs with every word, “but your Charms exam is in, like, fifteen minutes. If you don’t know it by now, you probably never will.”

“Very reassuring, Chris.” Phil frowned at the Gryffindor as Dan sank further in on himself in an apparent attempt to look as small as he felt.

“Hey,” Phil said quietly, nudging Dan’s arm with his elbow. “What’s up? You should be more than ready, I saw you studying _all day_ yesterday.”

Dan grimaced, turning a page. He felt Phil’s eyes boring into the side of his head.

“If you weren’t studying,” Phil said, crossing his arms, “what was all that writing you were doing?”

“...it _might_ have been a script for a new video.”

Phil sighed. “About what?”

“...about how _not_ to study.”

Dan was surprised to hear Phil let out a snort, and he turned to see a smile stretching across the older boy’s face. 

“Well,” Phil laughed, “you’ve certainly got _that_ down, now haven’t you?”

Dan blushed a bit, grinning into his textbook.

“You know, as much as it pains me to agree with Chris on something,” Phil said around a mouthful of cereal, “there really isn’t much point in cramming right before the exam.” He calmly reached over, flipping Dan’s book shut.

“But what if there’s something I missed?” Dan pouted. 

“There isn’t,” Phil replied, dragging his spoon through his milk to collect the last few pieces of cereal.

“But—”

“Dan.” Phil fixed him with a serious look. “Patronus?”

Dan couldn't fight his smile at that. Throughout the last several weeks of O.W.L prep, whenever Dan had gotten frustrated with studying or lost faith in himself, Phil had always been there with a gentle reminder of the incredibly difficult spell Dan had now mastered, giving him the quick boost of confidence he needed to get back to work.

“Yeah, I know, you’re right,” Dan admitted. “I just wish I could actually take my Patronus into the exam _with_ me. It might help calm me down when I inevitably get to the first question and panic.”

Phil chuckled, almost spilling the leftover chocolatey-milk he was drinking straight from his cereal bowl. “I think that might be just a _little_ distracting for the other students,” he said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and moved to rise from his seat along with PJ and Chris. “But hey, it’s worth a shot during your Defense practical. I’ve heard of people getting extra credit for showing their examiner advanced stuff like that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dan replied, shoving his textbook in his bag and standing to follow his friends out of the Great Hall. The three older boys were heading off to their normal classes, while Dan and the rest of his year would spend the next few agonizing minutes waiting in the entrance hall to be called in for the written half of their Charms exam.

Before they went their separate ways, Chris came to stand in front of Dan, placing both hands on his shoulders.

“Daniel, I must say, it’s been _wonderful_ to know you,” he said, sending a cheeky smile up to the taller boy. “Now, I have to ask: will I be receiving anything in your will?”

“Chris, leave him alone!” PJ laughed, giving Chris a hard shove in the direction of their Transfiguration lesson before glancing over his shoulder. “But Dan, if it’s up for grabs, can I call dibs on your laptop?”

Watching the pair laugh their way up the staircase, Dan calmly slipped his wand out of his pocket, pointing it toward Chris and PJ’s turned backs.

“ _Colovaria_ ,” he whispered, smirking as the older boys’ robes went a vibrant shade of purple.

“Dan! What the hell?” Chris exclaimed as he turned on his heel with a glare, laughter echoing through the Great Hall as other students took notice.

“What?” Dan said sweetly, feigning innocence as he twirled his wand between his fingers. “I was just practicing for my Charms practical in a few hours!”

“And you’re just going to let him get away with that?” Chris asked, turning toward Phil, who was snickering behind his hand.

Phil straightened his posture at the question, clearing his throat and adopting a serious expression. “Daniel, as a prefect, I’m obligated to remind you that spellwork is _not_ permitted in the corridors.”

Dan shrank back a bit at his words, and Chris shot the younger boy a satisfied look.

“But,” Phil continued, snapping the other three boys’ attention back in his direction, “as your best friend…”

Phil smiled broadly as he reached a hand toward Dan for a high five, a gesture that Dan gladly returned.

“I hate you both,” Chris pouted, crossing his arms.

“Oh, come off it, Chris,” PJ said with a grin, wrapping one purple-clad arm around the Gryffindor’s shoulders. “Besides, I think we look pretty good, it’s very flattering!”

The curly-haired boy gave Dan a wink as he steered his muttering best friend back up the stairs.

“So,” Phil said as Dan watched the other boys’ ascent, “you ready?”

Dan sighed, distractedly running a hand through his hair before thinking better of it and hurriedly pushing his fringe back into shape.

“Maybe?” he laughed shakily. “It’s just… It’s a lot of pressure. I mean, the next two weeks set the stage for the rest of my time at school, then my whole _life_ , and I just really want to make my parents proud, y’know?”

“Dan, I’m sure they’re already proud of you, regardless of whether you do well on some test, or if you go into law, or whatever else you might do in life.” Phil’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I mean. I know _I’m_ proud of you.”

Dan chewed on his bottom lip, staring at his shoes. “You really think I’m ready?”

Phil smiled back warmly. “You got this.”

Dan took a deep, steadying breath before meeting Phil’s eyes, almost the same blue as his Patronus. “I got this.”

Phil beamed, pulling Dan in for one last tight hug before scurrying up the stairs to get to class.

Now standing alone, Dan leaned back against the cool marble railing of the staircase. He kept his eyes locked on the house point hourglasses across the hall, determined not to meet the terrified gazes of any of his classmates for fear that his nerves would take over again. As he stared, a few gemstones fell from the top bulbs of each houses’ hourglass, presumably from points earned for correctly answering questions in class.

Dan was watching a few diamonds settle in the bottom of the Hufflepuff glass when the doors to the Great Hall swung open and they were being beckoned in for their exam. 

The hall had been rearranged while they waited, the four house tables replaced with individual desks standing in long, straight rows. Dan slipped into his seat, taking one more calming breath as he dipped his quill in ink.

Before he knew it, they were told to turn over their exams and begin, and Dan smirked as he read the first question: _a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movement required to change an object’s colour._

Maybe he was more prepared than he thought.

\- - -

After so many agonizingly slow months spent studying and preparing, Dan was surprised at just how quickly his O.W.L. exams were speeding by. He had made it through his written Charms test relatively unscathed, only stumbling over a couple of definitions, and he was able to easily change the color of his toad and send a dinner plate spinning through the air at his examiner’s request that afternoon during his practical.

Tuesday left him feeling pretty confident about the first half of his Transfiguration exam, but slightly _less_ so about the second. He was internally squealing with excitement when he managed to Vanish his water goblet, only to glance up and realize that he hadn’t _quite_ gotten rid of the water _inside_ the goblet, as it was dripping down the end of his examiner’s nose and all over her deep red robes.

“Phil! It’s not funny, it’s _mortifying!_ ” Dan whined as Phil snickered at Dan’s retelling of the story later that afternoon. The pair had met up in the fifth year greenhouse for a quick review session before Dan’s Herbology O.W.L. the next day.

“I’m sorry!” Phil cried out, struggling to catch his breath between laughs. “But come on, you have to admit, it’s a _little_ funny.”

Dan glared across the worktable at the older boy, pointedly shoving his hands into his dragonhide gloves.

“Okay, okay, message received,” Phil said, raising his hands in surrender as he reigned in his giggles. “So, you completely drenched her, and…”

Dan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“ _And_ , I felt _horrible_ , but she was super nice about it. Just pulled out her wand and dried herself off. Kept reassuring me that it was the least traumatic mistake she had seen all day.”

“Oh, definitely,” Phil nodded, pulling on his own gloves. “The girl at the table next to me during my O.W.L. was supposed to use a Doubling Charm to duplicate a clock. And, I mean, she _did_ duplicate it, but then she couldn’t _stop_ duplicating it. There were clocks all over the Great Hall, just slowly ticking away the time left in our exams...” He shuddered involuntarily at the memory. “So, at least yours was just water?”

Dan snorted. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Now,” Phil said, clapping his gloved hands together, “who can tell me the proper way to approach a Fanged Geranium?” He glanced around the empty greenhouse, peering behind Dan and squinting his eyes a bit. “Anyone? Anyone at all?”

Dan looked around the small building as well, a deep furrow of confusion set in his brow, before slowly raising his hand. 

“Ah, yes, Mister Howell?” Phil pointed in Dan’s direction.

“Umm,” Dan hesitated as he was “called on.” “Calmly, but confidently?”

“Precisely!” Phil exclaimed. “Four million trillion points to Hufflepuff!”

Dan rolled his eyes in a failed attempt to cover up his smile. “Nerd.”

The pair spent the next half hour reviewing for Dan’s exam, Phil giving helpful hints along the way. The older boy had just finished reminding Dan of the Geranium’s most ticklish spot, which should help him to get it more relaxed, when he asked Dan a somewhat off-topic question.

“Hey, Dan? Do you know if there are any wizards who watch your YouTube videos?”

Dan glanced up from where he was tickling behind the plant’s jaw. “Uhh, yeah, there are a few. Mostly here at Hogwarts. You know, Muggleborns who already knew how to use the Internet, like Connor and Tyler? They’ve mentioned they’ve watched my stuff before.”

“Oh, right. I guess that makes sense,” Phil replied, and Dan could have sworn the look in his eyes was one of disappointment.

“I mean, there _are_ a few outside of school that are subscribed,” Dan continued a bit cautiously, trying to gauge Phil’s reaction.

“There are?” Phil’s eyebrows shot up at the idea. “How do you know?”

“Well, last year I might have _accidentally_ forgot to edit out part of a video where I mentioned something about my ‘Potions’ lesson instead of calling it ‘Chemistry’ class like a Muggle would.” Dan grimaced at the memory, stepping away from the Geranium and pulling off a glove to run a hand through his hair.

Phil chuckled. “How did _that_ go?”

“Well, I spent about a week holed up in my room, terrified that someone from the Ministry was going to burst into my house and drag me away for violating the Statute of Secrecy, but it turned out none of my Muggle subscribers really even noticed.”

“But I’m guessing some other wizards did?”

Dan laughed. “Yeah, right after I posted the video, I started getting these weird enchanted messages in the comment section. They just looked like gibberish at first, but when I waved my wand over them, the letters all rearranged and I could actually read them. Lots of people reminiscing about their time at school and how much they hated Potions, too.”

Phil’s grin was so big that Dan was worried his face might actually split in half. “So there are other wizards who have figured out how to manipulate modern Muggle technology, just like you?” 

Dan raised an eyebrow as he sat down on one of the workbenches. “Umm, yeah, I guess so.”

“And there’s an actual community of wizards _already_ on YouTube! That’s incredible,” Phil continued, seemingly to himself, as he started to walk back and forth. “I can’t believe it, this might actually work..”

“Phil, what are you on about?” Dan asked, watching as the older boy paced.

As if breaking out of a trance at Dan’s words, Phil froze mid-step and turned back to face him.

“Oh. Umm, it’s nothing, just. Thinking out loud, that's all.” Phil shot Dan a lopsided smile. “Now, let’s get back to your review, shall we?”

Dan stood up, pulling his gloves back on. “Okay, weirdo.”

Thanks to Phil’s tutoring, Dan came out of his exam the next day feeling better than he ever had about a Herbology test. He was still feeling pretty confident heading into his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam on Thursday, and although he was a little worried that he may have accidentally mixed up counter-jinxes and anti-jinxes, Phil’s advice about the extra credit on his practical held true. Dan’s examiner, a stocky bald wizard, nearly fell off his chair in excitement as Dan’s Patronus trotted around their table, drawing the attention of practically every pair of eyes in the Great Hall. Dan couldn't stop smiling the whole next day, even when he was certain he had failed his Ancient Runes exam miserably (although, to be fair, he always knew that one wasn’t going to end well).

By the time the weekend—and Dan’s exam halfway mark—rolled around, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief at how much better his first week had gone compared to what he had been imagining.

However, knowing he still had another week of tests to go, he was determined to spend his Saturday reviewing his notes, no matter how many times Phil insisted he take a break.

“Dan, come on,” Phil pleaded as Dan shook his head. “Please come with us to Hogsmeade! You've worked so hard already!” 

“No, Phil, he’s made his choice,” Chris insisted, grabbing Phil’s arm to start pulling him away from the Hufflepuff common room door, which Dan was stubbornly refusing to exit. “Besides, he’s right to stay here.”

Phil wrangled his arm out of Chris’ grip. “Chris, what are you talking about? He’s going to work himself to death! The whole point of the school scheduling a Hogsmeade visit today was for the fifth and seventh years to blow off some steam!”

“Nope, Dan has the right idea,” Chris replied with a smirk. “They _actually_ planned this trip in the middle of exams to root out the weak links.”

Dan answered the Gryffindor’s smart remark with an exaggerated eye roll and crude hand gesture, though he felt a smile spreading across his face.

PJ, who was watching from a bit further down the corridor, glanced at his watch. “Guys, if we’re going, we really need to get a move on before Filch closes the gates.”

Phil bit his lip and glanced between the other two sixth years and Dan, who was still standing firmly over the threshold of his common room. “You guys go ahead. I’m staying here, too.”

All three boys turned to Phil in shock, Chris groaning in annoyance.

“But Phil,” PJ said, green eyes wide, “what about that... _thing_...we were going to work on?”

“It’ll just have to wait for another day,” Phil replied, crossing his arms over his chest and moving to duck inside the Hufflepuff common room. However, he quickly found his path blocked.

“Phil.” Dan fixed his best friend with a stare. “Go.”

“Dan, I’m not leaving you cooped up alone all day while we have fun!”

Dan shook his head, mouth tilting up into a smirk. “That’s _my_ choice, Phil. And as much as I appreciate the gesture, you clearly already had plans with PJ, right?”

Phil sighed, his defensive expression slowly melting away as Dan spoke. “Umm. Well, we were going to use that Muggle Internet connection you found to do some...research,” he admitted. “So, we were actually sort of hoping to, umm. Borrow your laptop?”

“Oh! Of course!” Dan replied, relaxing his tall frame when it was clear he didn’t need to block the door anymore. “Am I allowed to know what you’re ‘researching?’”

Phil smiled down at his shoes. “Actually, it’s a surprise.”

“Oh, I see how it is. Some best friend you are,” Dan joked, poking Phil lightly in the side. “Well, you can borrow my laptop on one condition.”

“And what’s that?” Phil asked, a bit skeptical.

“While you’re in Hogsmeade, you have to pick up supplies for the world’s best birthday,” Dan replied. “I’m talking Chocolate Cauldrons, Pumpkin Pasties, Liquorice Wands, Fizzing Whizzbees—”

“Should I be writing this down?” Phil interrupted with a chuckle. 

“Hey!” Dan pouted. “I have to take my last exam on my _actual_ day of birth because the universe has no regard for our day to day lives, and I know time is relative and my birthday _is_ just another normal day in the context of the bigger picture, so of course life has to go on as regularly scheduled, but—”

“Whoa, there,” Phil jumped in, “you’re about two more existential points away from ending up face down in the corridor, there, buddy.”

Dan frowned back at him. 

“Hey,” Phil said, smiling warmly and placing a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder. “I promise, it’ll be the best end-of-exams slash sixteenth birthday celebration ever.”

Dan grinned, turning to head back inside the common room. “Stay there, I’ll be right back with my laptop.”

The next several days of exams seemed to fly by even faster than the first week, and Dan was amazed at how much his studying was actually paying off, as he came out of his Potions exam on Monday feeling pretty confident. His potion had been a couple shades darker than he would have liked when he put the cork in his sample flask, but it was still a pretty respectable brew compared to some other Potions tests he had taken over the years.

Tuesday’s Care of Magical Creatures practical had him stumped for a few minutes as his eyes raked over the mass of twigs and branches on the ground in front of him. He had a sudden stroke of inspiration, though, grabbing a handful of insects from the container on a nearby table and tossing it into the pile of greenery. At the introduction of food, his Bowtruckle sprang to life, revealing its hiding place in the pile and allowing Dan to let out the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding in.

The Astronomy O.W.L. on Wednesday almost felt like an early birthday present for Dan, as he was able to effortlessly remember the names of each planet's moons and the stars that made up the major constellations for his theory exam in the morning. 

During the practical test much later that evening atop the Astronomy Tower, Dan even felt confident enough in his ability to fill out his star chart that he took a moment to lean back from his telescope, breathing in the warm almost-summer night air and revelling in the last few minutes of his fifteenth year. At the examiner's reminder of the time left in the test, though, he put his eye back to the lens, taking in the galaxies in front of him with a wide smile plastered to his face.

 

\- - -

 

“Is it just me, or does Dan look a lot...squishier...when he’s asleep?”

“PJ, we talked about this earlier! Whispers, remember?”

“No, Phil, look! PJ is right! His face is all squished up against his pillow, and—Merlin’s arse! Is that a drawing of _Phil_ on Dan’s pillow?”

“Wait, wait, let me see!”

“That is _not_ me, Chris, you’re out of your mind.”

“Yeah, Chris, that’s just Haru. He’s a character in an anime show. And I’m not even gonna lie, I _kind of_ want to steal it…”

“Guys, focus! We’re here for a reason!”

Dan slowly blinked awake, his eyes struggling in the dimly-lit space to make out the three figures that were piled up on the end of his bed and speaking in hushed whispers. 

He reluctantly slid an arm out of his blanket cocoon, fumbling for his wand on the bedside table before quietly whispering out, “ _Lumos_.” The small beam lit up the inside of his bed hangings, revealing three sixth years lounging across his bed and looking _far_ too awake for the late hour, waving cheekily back at him in the wand light.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Chris said smugly.

Dan groaned, pulling his comforter up over his head.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Phil’s voice sounded slightly muffled to Dan’s covered ears. “You asked for the best sixteenth birthday ever, and now you’re getting it.”

With that said, Phil yanked Dan’s blankets off his head, earning a series of mumbled curses from the younger (although now only _slightly_ less so) boy. “You guys are aware that I only got back from my Astronomy exam, like, _two hours ago?_ ”

“Hey, we didn’t make the exam schedule,” PJ defended them. “Besides, Phil said it was ‘tradition,’ or something.”

“Tradition?” Dan stared back at Phil’s smiling face for a moment before comprehension suddenly dawned. “Phil, you’re joking, right? I _literally_ just left the Astronomy Tower!”

“But Daaaaan,” Phil whined, shaking Dan’s shoulder and pouting. “Why did you even _start_ our tradition if you weren’t going to stick to it?”

Dan groaned, scrubbing a hand down his tired face. “Alright, fine,” he finally surrendered, throwing back his covers and slipping his shoes on. “But if I fall asleep during my History of Magic exam tomorrow, it’s on you guys.”

“Dan, it’s _History of Magic_ ,” Chris whispered as the four boys tiptoed through the pitch black Hufflepuff dormitory. “If you _didn’t_ fall asleep, I’d be concerned.”

 

\- - -

 

“Ugh, I don’t think I could eat another _bite_ ,” Chris moaned dramatically, clutching at his full stomach.

“Me neither,” PJ sighed out from a few feet away where he was lying flat on his back, limbs stretched out wide as he stared up at the stars.

“Glad to see you two helped yourselves to _my_ birthday haul,” Dan half grumbled, half laughed as he levitated the practically overspilling bag of Honeydukes sweets away from the other two boys. He set it down gently in the space between his own leg and Phil’s where they sat near the edge of the Astronomy Tower, not far from where Dan’s telescope had been set up for his exam only a few hours before.

“You love us and you know it,” PJ mumbled from a little ways across the tower, shutting both eyes.

“You know, Peej, I still can’t believe how _fast_ they grow up,” Chris said, giving an obviously fake sniffle. “Our little Danny boy will be a _man_ soon!”

Dan rolled his eyes, tossing an empty candy wrapper toward Chris’ head as PJ snickered and Chris smiled smugly.

“Dan,” Chris continued, just barely covering up the laughter in his voice, “now that you’re almost a man, you’re probably going to start experiencing some _urges_. Don’t worry, it’s all perfectly natural—”

“Chris,” Dan interrupted, “finish that sentence, and I’ll throw you off this tower faster than you can say ‘the birds and the bees.’”

Noting the serious edge in Dan’s voice, Chris abruptly dropped the subject, settling back against the stone floor next to PJ, who was now practically tearing up with laughter.

“It really is crazy that you’re sixteen already,” Phil mused quietly from his seat beside Dan, digging through the bag of sweets. “It seems like just yesterday we were all sitting together on the Hogwarts Express on the way to the start of your fifth year, and now you’re only a few months away from the beginning of your _sixth!_ ”

“Yeah, you’re a good one to talk, Mr. Soon-to-Be _Seventh Year_ ,” Dan teased, elbowing Phil in the ribs lightly.

Phil bristled at Dan’s words. “God, don’t remind me.”

Both boys sat silent for a moment, each pondering the upcoming year as they stared up at the nearly cloudless night sky.

“So,” Dan said, breaking the quiet after a minute or two, “I heard rumors that there might be presents at this little shindig...”

“One little birthday and suddenly he expects special treatment,” Phil laughed, even as he was reaching behind his seat on the stone floor for a small, wrapped package. “Now, I know it’s a little sentimental,” he explained as Dan tore into the paper, “and I know you don’t _really_ believe in it… But it just felt right.”

Dan chuckled as he stared down at the now open present in his lap. “You know, Phil, for someone who claims to be lactose intolerant, I think you’re just about the cheesiest person I’ve ever met,” he said, holding up a tiny picture frame containing a single tarot card: the Knight of Wands.

Phil shrugged, reaching for the frame. “I mean, if you don’t like it, I can just take it back—”

“No!” Dan exclaimed, clutching the present protectively to his chest.

Phil stared back at him, bemused.

“I mean,” Dan sputtered, “I don’t necessarily fully _believe_ in it, but you _did_ go through all that trouble…”

“Uh huh, sure.” Phil nodded, playing along and pretending he didn’t notice when Dan delicately ran a finger across the glass, tracing the edges of the tarot card.

“Hey, Phil!” PJ called across the tower from where he was now sitting up straight. “Did you give him our present yet?”

“Nope, I was just getting to it,” Phil answered as Dan looked back and forth between his friends. 

“‘ _Our_ present?’” Dan repeated as PJ moved to join them. “Wait, does this have anything to do with why you guys needed my laptop last weekend?”

“Patience, young Bowtruckle,” PJ said as he sat down cross-legged in front of Dan, who looked to Phil for an explanation as the older boy revealed another small present.

“So,” Phil said, clearing his throat, “PJ and I have been talking about our YouTube channels, and I mentioned to him how weird it felt for me to censor out my magic when we filmed. I mean, I’ve been around magic pretty much every minute of every day for my entire life, and suddenly having to restrict such a huge part of myself was _so_ hard—”

“Yes, but Phil, we _have_ to hide our magic online!” Dan interrupted. “Remember that little thing called the International Statute of _Secrecy?_ ”

“I know, I know,” Phil said, trying to calm Dan’s sudden outburst. “But then the other day, you mentioned that there are wizards who already watch your videos, and it got me thinking… What if there was something _like_ YouTube, but especially _for_ people with magic?”

Dan scoffed. “What, like ‘WizTube,’ or something?”

“Oh, that’s good!” PJ said, turning to Phil. “We’ve been trying to come up with a catchy name, we should use that.”

Phil nodded in excited agreement as Dan examined both of their faces carefully for any sign that they were pranking him.

“Wait, you guys are serious?” he said in disbelief. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it would be awesome, but most witches and wizards don’t _exactly_ know how to use computers.”

“Ah,” PJ said, placing his index finger against his own nose and tapping it knowingly, “but they _do_ know how to use magic mirrors.”

At that, PJ directed Dan’s attention to the present still sitting in Phil’s outstretched hands, which Dan cautiously took and began opening. As he tore the wrapping away, he was left with a small hand mirror that looked almost _suspiciously_ similar to his Muggle cell phone.

“We think it’s about time to bring the wizarding world into the twenty-first century, don’t you?” Phil said as Dan turned the small reflective surface over a few times in his hands.

When Dan looked back up, he discovered that Phil, PJ, and even Chris were all holding identical mirrors. As Dan watched, Phil pointed his wand at his own, and a moment later, the one clutched in Dan’s hands jumped to life, displaying Phil’s name and a message reading, “Happy birthday! ^_^ ”

“But...you...and then…” Dan sputtered, still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing. “You—you guys made _wizard smartphones?_ ”

“Ah, ah, ah,” PJ said, waggling a finger at Dan, “we made smart _mirrors_. Very different. Patent pending.” He winked at the younger boy, who stared back, slack jawed.

“But...how?”

“Basically just an extended version of a Protean Charm,” Phil said casually with a shrug, as if explaining something as simple as tying one’s shoes. “It’s the same way normal two-way mirrors are connected, we just...tweaked it a little.”

“Phil,” Dan breathed out. “This is...this is incredible.”

“Such a tone of surprise,” Phil teased. “I mean, I know Ravenclaw wasn’t the Sorting Hat’s _first_ choice for me, but I’m not _completely_ out of place there.”

“It’s just…” Dan looked back to his mirror, still showing Phil’s message. “Do you guys realize how _huge_ this is?”

“Judging by how they haven’t shut up about it for an entire week, I think they have a pretty good idea.” Chris crossed his arms over his chest, although he was smiling nearly as big as PJ and Phil. “I was starting to get jealous that you got to leave for your exams while I had to stay and listen to these two yammer endlessly about ‘changing the wizarding world as we know it!’”

“They’re right!” Dan exclaimed, his shock finally starting to wear off as he pulled his wand from his pocket to start flicking through the features of his new so-called “SmartMirror.”

Phil peered over Dan’s shoulder as he started opening the prototypes of the first few apps they had created. “We’re still playing around with those, but you’ll see we took a _bit_ of inspiration from some Muggle networking websites.”

“I noticed,” Dan said as he closed out of an app called “SpellBook” and opened up another named “Owler,” laughing at the knock-off versions of his Muggle social media pages. At the moment, his profiles on both pages displayed only three contacts, the boys sitting around him, but he could easily imagine a day in the not-too-distant future when that number would be _much_ bigger.

“Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to give up making YouTube videos,” Phil hastily reassured him. “Just that you’ll have more freedom to make totally different content for a different audience, that’s all.”

Dan nodded, stifling a giggle as he happened to see Phil’s Owler profile picture, a close up of the Ravenclaw smiling next to Winston in the greenhouse.

“So,” Phil said with a shaky breath, “you really like it?” The older boy chewed on his lip ring as he waited for Dan’s answer.

Dan raised an eyebrow, shooting him an “Are you kidding me?” look, which he hoped would convey everything he couldn’t quite find the words for.

Phil sighed, clearly relieved.

“I just can’t believe you guys did all this in a week.” Dan continued pointing his wand at the mirror, checking out the basic features PJ and Phil had set up so far. “I mean, it definitely has a long way to go, and I’m not a huge fan of the text options,” he said, indicating toward the entirely too Comic Sans-esque font, “but there’s _so much_ potential here.”

Phil shot him a knowing smirk. “I’m guessing that means you’ll be joining us as a creative consultant? Because we have a _busy_ summer ahead of us if we want to meet our goal of getting a SmartMirror in the hands of every Hogwarts student by this time next year.”

“Of course I’m in, you spoon,” Dan replied quickly, “was that ever even a question?”

Phil beamed, perhaps even brighter than all of the stars above his head. “Well, then, I say we commemorate the occasion,” he said, opening up the camera app on his mirror.

“Here, I’ll take it,” Dan said, holding out his hand, “I have freakishly long arms, perfect for selfies.”

“No, I’ve got it!” Phil said, using his wand to levitate the mirror at the perfect angle in front of them. “Besides, in this case, I’m pretty sure it would actually be called a ‘ _spell-fie!_ ’”

The camera flashed just as Dan groaned, forever capturing Phil’s bright smile and Dan’s eyes rolled back in his head.

 

\- - -

 

“Hey, Dan, d’you see my—Oh! Nevermind, there it is!”

Phil ducked down under his bed, grabbing one of his socks that had made a break for it, finding a missing scarf and three lost quills in the process.

Dan, who was lounging upside down across Phil’s bed, glanced up from his SmartMirror as Phil resurfaced, snorting at the dust bunnies clinging to the older boy’s dark hair before pointing them out.

Phil frowned back at him for laughing, running fingers through his fringe to get rid of the dust. “You know, Dan, as much as I’m loving having an audience, shouldn’t you be getting started on packing your _own_ stuff?”

Dan shrugged, attention focused back on his screen. “Nah, I’m not too bothered. I’ll just do it tomorrow.”

“‘Tomorrow’ as in about ten minutes before we’re supposed to be on the train?” Phil predicted, arms crossed over his chest.

Dan looked up again, staring at Phil upside down. “See, now you just know me _too_ well. There’s no element of surprise left.”

Phil rolled his eyes in reply. “Did you learn nothing from from Christmas break? You waited until the absolute last minute, and ended up with one eye hairsprayed shut for half the trip home.”

Dan scrunched up his face at the memory, swinging his legs around and sitting up on the bed. “Point taken. I’ll starting packing before the feast tonight.”

“Good plan,” Phil said, turning back to his trunk and trying to stuff everything down so the lid would actually shut. “Hand me that tie?”

Dan looked to his left on the bed to see the blue and bronze tie Phil was pointing to. He picked it up, running his fingers over the stripes.

“Hey, Phil?”

“Hmm?” Phil hummed, head hidden behind the top of his open trunk.

“I’ve been thinking…”

Phil snorted, peeking over his trunk. “When _aren’t_ you?”

Phil suddenly found himself with a faceful of his own pillow, almost knocking him over where he sat crouched in front of his trunk.

“Okay, okay,” Phil laughed as he attempted to regain his balance. “What’s on your mind?” 

Phil tossed his pillow back up to Dan on the bed, who pulled it to his chest, staring across the empty dormitory with Phil’s Ravenclaw tie still in his hand.

“I think that maybe there’s a _reason_ we’re in the houses that we’re in.”

There was a loud _click_ as Phil jumped on top of his trunk, finally getting it to stay closed. “Well, yeah, of course there’s a reason: because we _picked_ them.”

Dan shook his head. “No, I mean a reason beyond just us telling the Hat where we wanted to go,” he said, absentmindedly twisting Phil’s tie between his fingers.

“What, like _fate?_ ” Phil smirked, pulling his legs up underneath him where he still sat on his trunk.

“Not exactly…” Dan replied. “More like...I don’t know. Like the Sorting Hat had a plan.”

“A plan? But it let _us_ choose.”

Dan let out a breath, leaning back so his upper body rested fully against the bed while his long legs dangled over the side. “I don’t think the Hat just _casually_ let us go wherever we wanted to go. I think it agreed to our picks because it puts us where it knows we _need_ to be.”

Phil considered Dan’s words for a moment, a small smile playing across his face. “I think you might be right.”

Dan glanced up from the blue and bronze material now wrapped around his hand. “Yeah?”

Phil nodded, standing up (cautiously, in case his trunk were to pop open again without him weighing it down) and moving to stand in front of Dan. 

“ _But_ ,” he said, reaching over to grab his tie out of Dan’s hands, “I _also_ think that you’re just trying to distract me so I don’t actually make you go pack.”

Dan shook his head in disbelief. “Damn, I was sort of just kidding before, but you really _do_ know me too well. That was kind of scary.”

Phil just grinned back at him, offering Dan the hand that wasn’t holding his tie to help the younger boy up. “Come on, I’ll help you get started.”

 

\- - -

 

“So, you’re all coming down to Wokingham in a couple of weeks to start working on app development, right?” Dan had his feet propped up on the seat across from him as the British countryside sped past their train compartment window. 

“Yup!” Phil answered cheerily as he pulled his school robes over his head, stuffing them into his bag unceremoniously as his prefect duties were finished and he wouldn't need his robes again until September. “I’m actually heading to the Ministry next weekend to retake my Apparition exam. I’ll probably just _pop_ in on you, so be ready at _all_ times!”

The older boy wiggled his eyebrows and Dan glanced over the top of his SmartMirror to size him up.

“Yeah...I won’t hold my breath.”

“Hey!” Phil shoved at Dan’s legs, knocking his feet off the cushioned seat.

“I’m just kidding, you spork,” Dan laughed. “You’re definitely going to pass this time.”

One corner of Phil’s mouth tilted up. “Yeah?" 

“Oh, yeah,” Dan nodded. “And when you _do_ pass, maybe keep in mind how well it went the last time you popped up unexpectedly in my house.”

Phil winced at the memory of startling Dan’s family at Christmas. “Maybe I’ll just Apparate to the front door and then knock…” he said hesitantly.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Dan agreed, snickering along with Chris at the look on Phil’s face.

“So, Daniel,” PJ said suddenly, surprising the other three boys: he had hardly spoken since the train had pulled out of Hogsmeade. “It’s been quite an eventful year for you,” the curly-haired boy continued, resting his elbows on his knees and propping his chin on his hands thoughtfully.

“Well, there’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one,” Dan chuckled.

Although he laughed about it, the Ravenclaw’s words did get Dan thinking back on his fifth year at Hogwarts. It was almost as if he were looking down into a Pensieve as countless memories began flashing through his mind of introductions in robe shops and train compartments, of difficult new classes and coursework, and of the new feeling of studying with friends, stretched out in Ravenclaw Tower. He thought of the sound of laughter spreading through the Room of Requirement, and the chill in the air during midnight excursions to the Astronomy Tower that led to nights in detention and the worst falling out Dan had ever experienced. 

Dan frowned at the memories of arguments in corridors and tears flowing in a broom closet. However, those were quickly pushed away in favor of remembering laughing on the floor with cat whiskers covering his face, of the warmth his Patronus sent curling through him, of nights spent staring up at swirling galaxies and of warm afternoons tucked away in the greenhouses.

A smile crept across Dan’s face as he stared down at the small mirror in his hands, thinking of the incredible year falling further behind him as the train hurtled toward London, but also of the even better future stretching ahead.

“Well, you’ve had almost a whole year to think about my question,” PJ spoke up again, startling Dan out of his trip down memory lane. “Is your answer still the same?”

Dan frowned, his brow furrowing. “And which question was that?”

PJ smiled back at him, eyes practically twinkling. “ _Who_ do you want to _be?_ ”

Dan grinned at the reminder of their first meeting, realizing that, as PJ probably already knew, his answer had changed over the course of the last year.

“You know what? I have no idea,” Dan finally replied, glancing across the compartment and meeting Phil’s warm gaze. “But for once, I think I’m actually okay with that."


	24. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly still can't believe that this fic is actually finished. I've spent almost a whole year working on this, and I'm so, so happy that so many of you have let me know that you liked it. I mostly did this for fun and to get myself writing again, but to hear that people actually enjoyed reading it means the whole world. 
> 
> Again, huge, HUGE thanks to @spacelester and @the-cass-meow for being there from the very beginning!
> 
> Also, I already have several oneshots within this AU planned, so make sure you subscribe to my ao3 page if you want to know when I start posting them!
> 
> Thank you all so much for sticking with me through this fic and for all of your kind words, and I hope you enjoy reading the end as much as I loved writing it!
> 
>  
> 
> **Update!**
> 
> You can now check out my oneshot series taking place in the same AU as this fic by clicking [here!](http://archiveofourown.org/series/688638)

**Five Years Later**

_“You’re listening to Dan and Phil on Wizarding Wireless Network.”_

The voiceover came on as the song that had been playing ended and faded out, signaling Dan and Phil that they were back on air.

“And that was the Weird Sisters with _‘Do the Hippogriff.’_ Bit of a cheeky throwback there, wasn’t it?” Dan said with a smile.

“You know, Dan, that song has always made me wonder about something,” Phil said, looking at Dan thoughtfully and stroking his chin.

“And what would that be, Phil?”

“How exactly _does_ one dance like a hippogriff?”

“Actually, Phil, that’s a really good question,” Dan replied, hands on hips. “I’m not sure.”

“Maybe like this?”

Phil started moving his arms up and down as if flapping a set of wings, stomping one foot on the ground like a hoof.

Dan snorted. “Just a reminder,” he said into the microphone, “for those of you who have a SmartMirror and want to see Phil making a complete fool of himself pretending to be a hippogriff, amongst... other things—Phil, _STOP_ dabbing, for Merlin’s sake, you’re 22 years old—our show is available on the WWN app!

“Yup, you can watch us streaming live _right now!_ ” Phil added, finishing up his dance and making eye contact with the camera. “Come on over and see Dan’s snazzy new tattoo, which is right here on his forehead!” 

Phil reached over and tapped Dan’s forehead with his index finger before Dan swatted his hand away playfully. 

“Phil, don’t lie to them, it’s on my arm,” Dan laughed, fingers subconsciously finding the swirling galaxy trailing across the back of his left forearm from his elbow to his wrist. At his touch, the stars sparkled a bit brighter and an asteroid streaked past one of his freckles.

“What, I’m just trying to get people to check out the show!” Phil flashed him the most innocent smile he could muster.

“Well, while we’re on the topic of the live show,” Dan said, turning to the camera, “a _huge_ thanks to everyone who got the hashtag ‘danandphilarelivenow’ trending on Twitter during last week’s radio show and confused our Muggle YouTube fans. I’ve never been tagged in so many angry and confused tweets in my life.”

“Yeah, guys,” Phil piped in, “I know it was the theme of the show last week, but it makes it _kind of_ hard to hide our secret wizard identities from our Muggle viewers when you’re tagging us in tweets about your _magic_ fails.” He crossed his arms over his chest, giving the camera a disappointed look. “We made Owler for a reason, so we can all indulge in our Internet addictions _without_ violating the Statute of Secrecy.”

“Oh, but speaking of magic fails… I had quite a stressful morning, didn’t I?” Dan segued, turning his attention back to his best friend. “Care to tell our listeners why, Phil?”

“Er, not particularly…”

“Well, I went into our kitchen this morning to find that whilst stealing _my_ cereal, _someone_ had left every single cabinet door wide open, which I discovered when I walked _face-first_ into one of them.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you’re freakishly tall!” Phil attempted to defend himself, smiling behind his hand. “If you were a normal sized person, you could have walked right under it!”

“That’s no excuse, you spork! We’re almost exactly the same height!” Dan exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, I just forget to close them sometimes...”

“Phil, you’re a _wizard_ , all you have to do is wave your wand and the bloody cabinets will close themselves!”

“Dan, you can’t swear on the radio, there might be babies listening!”

Dan rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Anyways,” Phil said, attempting to redirect the conversation, “I think it’s about time we sent it on over to the news desk and everyone's favorite _super serious _journalists, don’t you?”__

__Dan nodded. “Yes, it’s time for the Internet News! Take it away, Dan and Phil!”_ _

__A brief cut scene flashed across the screen before revealing an empty news desk. A moment later, Dan and Phil appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind the desk, sporting obviously fake glasses and shuffling stacks of papers._ _

__“Thanks, guys!” Phil said, waving to their supposed “co-hosts.”_ _

__Dan cleared his throat, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “Hello, and welcome to the Internet News.”_ _

__“Yes,” Phil added, “these are the stories that you’ll never read about in _The Daily Prophet_.”_ _

__“Yeah, there’s probably a good reason for that, Phil.”_ _

__“Internet News!” Phil exclaimed suddenly, accompanied by a chiming clock. “Our first story is something that we enjoy seeing around here, and that is celebrities’ faces appearing in inanimate objects!”_ _

__“Ooo, always love that,” Dan said, rubbing his hands together, “who do we have this time?”_ _

__“Well, a witch in Wales was in the middle of brewing her nightly sleeping draught when she noticed an _eerily_ familiar face forming in the churning potion…”_ _

__Dan turned his attention to the screen in front of them that displayed the video their viewers were currently seeing on the livestream. “For Merlin’s sake, is that Harry Potter?”_ _

__“It is, Dan!” Phil nodded enthusiastically. “If you look closely, there’s even a _little_ bubble right in the spot where his scar would be!”_ _

__Dan snorted. “That’s just uncanny.”_ _

__“Yeah, and you know what it’s called, Dan?”_ _

__Dan sighed, sensing what was coming next. “What is it called, Phil?”_ _

__Phil snickered. “The _Brew_ Who Lived!” _ _

__Dan stared directly into the camera, blank-faced. “This guy... Do you see what I have to put up with?”_ _

__Phil smirked proudly before once again exclaiming, “Internet News!”_ _

__“Our next story is one of your favorite things, Phil,” Dan said, shuffling his papers as he continued the segment._ _

__“What’s that, Dan?”_ _

__“Unlikely animal friendships.”_ _

__Phil beamed. “That’s the _best_ kind of news story!”_ _

__“Yes, this interspecies…mingling?...is between a cat and an owl.”_ _

__“ _Please_ tell me we have pictures.”_ _

__“That we do, Phil,” Dan chuckled as an image appeared on the screen of a fluffy black cat curled around a small barn owl, both sleeping soundly._ _

__“Oh my God. That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Phil said, hands covering his mouth and eyes shining._ _

__“That’s right,” Dan went on, “the pets’ owner posted the picture on SpellBook, explaining that Nox the cat and Otis the owl are the best of friends, despite the bad blood between their species. They even said that Nox often waits by the window all day for Otis to get back from delivering the post.”_ _

__“That’s _adorable,_ ” Phil cooed. “I want twelve.”_ _

__“I’d love to see you try to explain that many pets to our landlord.”_ _

__“Dan! Stop killing my dreams!” Phil frowned._ _

__Dan shook his head, laughing. “Internet News!”_ _

__“There’s a wizard in Brighton with a _little_ connection to a certain two radio hosts,” Phil waggled his eyebrows at the camera, “who is working on an exciting new project!”_ _

__“Now, _whoever_ could that be?” Dan smirked as a goofy picture of PJ at Phil’s graduation party that Dan had picked out for the occasion flashed on the screen. _ _

__“Dan, seriously?” Phil laughed, tongue poking out for a moment, as he saw the image. “He’s going to _kill_ you.”_ _

__Dan leaned close to the camera until essentially only a close up of his eye was in frame. “Fight me, Liguori.”_ _

__“That’s right,” Phil continued with a smile as Dan moved away from the lens, “PJ Liguori, who you probably recognize as our SmartMirror co-creator, is working on a new short film for WizTube! It’s about his summers spent working in a hotel for magical people and creatures alike, owned by the parents of friend of the show and Wimbourne Wasps beater, Chris Kendall!”_ _

__“Are you happy now, Peej?” Dan said, squinting his eyes at the camera. “We gave you your spon, you cheeky little sh—”_ _

__“And that’s the Internet News!” Phil exclaimed, clapping a hand over Dan’s mouth. “Now back to Dan and Phil in the studio!”_ _

__Dan and Phil both quickly Disapparated from behind the news desk, reappearing—slightly out of breath and sans glasses—on the other side of the studio at their soundboard._ _

__“Wow, every week those guys just blow me away with all of their serious reporting,” Phil said, winking at the camera._ _

__“Oh, yeah, I’m sure someone is already beating down the studio door to give them their Pulitzers,” Dan added, sarcasm dripping from every word._ _

__“Hey, Dan?”_ _

__“Yes, Phil?”_ _

__“I believe it’s time for something.”_ _

__“Oh? And what’s that, Phil?”_ _

__Phil pointed his wand at the soundboard in front of them, cueing up a pre-recorded sound bite of his own voice slowed down dramatically._ _

__“The Seven….Second….Challenge….” voiceover Phil said, the real Phil moving his lips along with the words and extending his arms for emphasis._ _

__“That’s right,” Dan said as the clip ended, “it’s time for the most intense per-second radio challenge ever invented! Phil, would you care to explain for any newcomers what we’re about to do?”_ _

__“Well, basically, you have to do whatever ridiculous challenge the other person says in seven seconds or less,” Phil said, staring at the camera dramatically and wiggling seven fingers._ _

__“Yup, fairly simple game,” Dan added, “but it is sudden death, so it’s, like, very dramatic and stuff.”_ _

__“Also, the winner gets to play a wildcard song that you wouldn’t _normally_ hear on WWN,” Phil continued, “which is usually Dan’s excuse to force his horrible Muggle music on all of you…”_ _

__“Why, Philip!” Dan said, bringing a hand to his heart in mock hurt. “I would _never_ do such a thing!”_ _

__“Well, the last three weeks beg to differ,” Phil replied, pretending to shudder at the memory. “I have an inkling of what Dan’s song will be if he wins again this week, and I _really_ don’t want him to play it.”_ _

__“I have absolutely no idea what you’re referring to, Phil, and neither does anyone listening.”_ _

__“Please don’t. Not again.”_ _

__“So, let’s get right to it, shall we, Phil?” Dan said, ignoring Phil’s plea. “Who’s going first this week?”_ _

__“Um, you are!” Phil pulled his SmartMirror out of his pocket and opened up his list of challenges. “Are you ready for your first challenge, Dan?”_ _

__“Not in the least bit.”_ _

__“Great. Dan, you have seven seconds to change the colour of your t-shirt. Go!”_ _

__Dan’s eyes went wide with panic. “Umm….umm… Oh! _Colovaria!_ ”_ _

__Dan pointed at his black shirt, color spreading from the tip of his wand and transforming the entire article of clothing until it was bright blue. He grinned widely at Phil, who nodded at his quick spellwork._ _

__“Nice job, Dan,” he said, impressed. “I was kind of hoping you had forgotten that one in the three years since you left Hogwarts. I mean, since all of your clothes are black, I figured you never really use it.”_ _

__“Well, you figured wrong, didn’t you?” Dan gloated. “Now, give me my ding, Phil.”_ _

__Phil rolled his eyes, pointing his wand at the board and eliciting the sound of a small bell ringing to indicate Dan’s job well done._ _

__Following a brief victory dance, Dan glanced up at himself in the monitor, frowning. “I’m sorry, but this just looks wrong,” he said, turning his wand back on himself once more._ _

__“Oh, yeah, that’s _much_ better,” Phil mocked as the color faded from Dan’s shirt and it went back to its original shade, “nice and black, just like your soul.” _ _

__“I’ll take that as a compliment.”_ _

__“Of course you will.”_ _

__“Okay, okay, it’s your turn,” Dan said, looking at his own list. “Phil, you have seven seconds to Disapparate from our studio here in Hogsmeade to our apartment in London and bring back one of your houseplants as proof. Go!”_ _

__“WHAT? Oh my God!” Phil shouted as the dramatic music started playing in the background. He quickly turned on the spot and vanished, a small _pop!_ ringing through the studio._ _

__Dan continued counting down from seven, smirking at the camera at how long his challenge was taking Phil. Just as he was about to lower his last finger, Phil re-appeared from thin air, clutching a large potted plant and panting slightly._ _

__“I did it!” Phil exclaimed. “I would fist pump, but I think I would drop Timothy!” He gingerly set the ceramic pot down on the table next to him, a wide smile covering his face._ _

__Dan leaned over the soundboard, frowning at the camera and reluctantly giving Phil his “ding” for completing the challenge._ _

__“Tbh,” he said, “that was a fairly easy one. You can barely take four steps in our flat without running into one of your bloody houseplants, so I’m sure you had no problem finding one fast.”_ _

__“You’re a good one to talk!” Phil replied. “Is there a single inch of our walls that you _haven’t_ covered in some form of space memorabilia?”_ _

__“Hey, _you’re_ the one that took me to the NASA headquarters for my birthday last year, so you brought that on yourself.”_ _

__“Space nerd!”_ _

__“Plant addict!”_ _

__“Sofa creaser!”_ _

__“Cereal stealer!”_ _

__The boys exchanged cross looks before seeming to realize simultaneously that they were still live on the radio._ _

__Dan laughed, turning back to the camera. “Excuse our little… _domestic_.”_ _

__“Yeah, Dan, are you ready for another challenge?”_ _

__“Hit me, Phil.”_ _

__“Alright,” Phil smirked. “Dan, you have seven seconds to make up a rap about Quidditch!”_ _

__Dan sputtered. “Uh, Quidditch, Quidditch, it’s a fun game! Umm… ffff… You wouldn’t want to see me play, because I’m a shame!”_ _

__“Ooo, nice one, you got that just in time,” Phil said. “And very accurate as well, you’re rubbish at Quidditch.”_ _

__“Well, it’s kind of hard to fly a broom AND play a sport at the same time when you’re basically a giant noodle with zero coordination,” Dan insisted. “But, one thing I _am_ good at is rapping, so way to give me an easy challenge, there, Philly.”_ _

__Phil raised an eyebrow at the nickname. “Okay, okay, next challenge, please.”_ _

__Dan glanced down at his list, smirking when he found the challenge he wanted. “Phil, you have seven seconds to name at least four of the twelve uses for dragon’s blood. And, go!”_ _

__“Umm, oven cleaner!” Phil exclaimed, holding up one finger. “Spot remover. Uh…. Oh! Helping to heal a wound quicker, and…. Umm… Ahh, why can’t I think of another?”_ _

__As Phil wracked his brain for a fourth answer, the timer ran out and he collapsed to the floor in defeat. Smile spreading, Dan waved his wand over the soundboard, repeatedly playing a buzzer noise and rubbing it in._ _

__“And for the fourth week in a row, Dan is the winner!” he shouted, running laps around the small studio and shooting sparks from his wand in victory._ _

__Phil stood back up, pouting as he watched his best friend gloat. “Alright, alright, you won, we get it. Now, let me just venture a _wild_ guess as to what song you’ve picked to celebrate your win.”_ _

__Coming back to his spot in front of the camera, Dan put on a serious expression. “Phil. I have picked a song with great cultural significance. It is a song that truly defines my generation, with lyrics that will speak to your very _soul_.”_ _

__“Yeah, I’m so sure,” Phil muttered._ _

__Dan ignored him, flicking his wand at the soundboard to start the music, and Phil groaned as he heard the far too familiar voice fill the studio._ _

___“SomeBODY once told me the world is gonna roll me…”_ _ _


End file.
